Norwich Physicians Sued for Death of 87-Year-Old Patient

Attorney Scott D. Camassar has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Norwich Internal Medicine & Multispecialty Care LLC and three of its member physicians on account of the death of an 87-year-old woman who died on June 28, 2007 following a heart attack.

The woman, who suffered from kidney disease and was at risk for heart conditions, was admitted to Haven Health Center of Jewett City for physical therapy and rehabilitation on June 10, 2007. During the course of her stay at the nursing home, she developed chest pain, which became progressively worse. By June 17th, she was complaining of epigastric pain and related symptoms. Her complaints continued over the next 10 days as her pain increased despite being treated for indigestion, nausea, and stomach upset. On June 27th, the woman’s son took her to Backus Hospital in Norwich, where tests determined that she had suffered a heart attack. She died the next day, her death attributed to cardiopulmonary arrest due to myocardial infarction.

According to the expert retained by the Law Firm of Stephen M. Reck, the deceased’s complaints were typical heart symptoms in older patients suffering from an acute cardiac event, and the physicians caring for her failed to recognize these well known symptoms of heart dysfunction. By the time her complaints of epigastric (chest) pain intensified, “a diagnosis of coronary insufficiency should have been considered, at which time reasonable standards of care would have required at least a new electrocardiogram and a troponin level [test]. Had that standard been followed, it is more likely than not that [she] would have been transferred much earlier to Backus [Hospital], where intervention would, more likely than not, have saved her life.” By failing to provide her with adequate diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, she “experienced a premature death.”