Kreindler partner Andrew Maloney settles a medical malpractice case involving a failure to timely diagnose and treat a deep vein thrombosis that caused a pulmonary embolism and death.
The patient, a breast cancer survivor, underwent a mastectomy and was being seen by a plastic surgeon for corrective, cosmetic breast surgery - a trans flap procedure. The doctor did not prescribe blood thinners after the surgery even though she had abnormal clotting factors and had a previous clot in her arm.
After the surgery she made complaints of extreme fatigue, leg swelling and pain. For almost two weeks the doctor treated her for a post-operative wound infection but did not do any investigation into her other complaints. Her health continued to decline and again she went to the doctor's office with her family. There, she had a massive heart attack and died. An autopsy showed she had died from a bilateral pulmonary embolus that was created when the clots in her leg (deep vein thrombosis) broke off. The case was filed in New York State Supreme Court, New York County.
