Settlement: $530,000
Wrongful Death/Dissecting Aneurysm

A 45 year old man thought to be in good health was working out at the gym when, while engaged in strenuous exercise, he felt a "pop" in his chest. This was followed by severe chest pain and some shortness of breath. He went to the closest emergency room, where he complained of chest pain, radiating into the throat and left shoulder. His blood pressure was low, especially the diastolic pressure. Electrocardiogram was normal, although his blood test for cardiac enzymes was equivocal. Chest X-ray revealed a large heart, but this was attributed to a minor congenital musculoskeletal defect ("pectus excavatum"). Although the pain improved with treatment, it persisted; as did the low blood pressure. The emergency physician sent the patient home with a presumed diagnosis of gastrointestinal and/or musculoskeletal pain. He was found dead in his bed the next day with a rupture of a dissecting thoracic aortic aneurysm.

(The plaintiff had limited loss of earning capacity; and non-economic losses to the wife and adult child were severely limited by California's Malpractice Law which caps such losses at $250,000 - regardless of the number of heirs left behind).