$1.2M for Heart Attack
A Bergen County jury on March 30 awarded $1.2 million to a heart-attack victim, finding that proper preventive treatment was not timely given. An angiogram performed on May 9, 2000 showed that Richard Ihde had a 90 percent blockage of this coronary artery. Nevertheless, his doctor released him and told him to come back in eight days for an angioplasty.
Ihde suffered a heart attack that night, which would have been prevented had Dr. Cary Hirsch placed a stent in the artery right away or admitted Ihde to the hospital to do the procedure the next day. Because of the heart attack, Ihde can no longer work at a $50,000 a year job that required him to lift heavy boxes. The jury awarded $180,000 for pain and suffering, $257,000 for past and future income and $200,000 to satisfy a per quod claim.
(This information was obtained from the New Jersey Law Journal)
