Stewart Eisenberg and Brian Hall recovered $1.7 million on behalf of their client who died shortly after heart surgery. The 50 year old man had developed atrial fibrillation and initially was treated medically for the condition. After the man did not respond well to the medication, a procedure known as cardiac ablation was suggested by his doctors.
The surgery was performed and the family was initially told by the surgeon that the surgery went well. While recovering in his room the patient went into cardiac arrest and a code blue was called. Despite resuscitative efforts the patient was unable to breathe for about twenty minutes and a CT scan showed that because of the prolonged deprivation of oxygen the patient suffered profound irreversible brain injury.
Nurses failed to monitor the patient after the procedure and the patient’s pericardial sac filled with blood and stopped the heart from beating. As a result of deprivation of oxygen to the brain the patient was immediately placed on a respirator and remained unresponsive. The patient died shortly thereafter.
Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Hall agreed to settle the case for $1.7 million days before trial was set to begin.
