Attorney Andrew Foulkrod delivered his second defense verdict in as many weeks, this time for an emergency physician who was sued for failure to diagnose fatal pulmonary embolism.

In the case, the patient presented to the emergency department with shortness of breath, chest discomfort, tachycardia, tachypnea, dizziness and borderline hypoxia.  The patient also had risk factors for pulmonary embolism, including morbid obesity and recent initiation of birth control pills.  According to Plaintiff's expert, an emergency physician from Harvard, the standard of care required diagnostic testing to rule out PE.

Attorney Foulkrod argued that the likelihood of PE was low.  Guided through a detailed analysis of the patient's signs and symptoms in conjunction with the prevailing predictive models and published guidelines, the jury agreed.  Our emergency physician properly admitted the patient to the cardiac floor for further evaluation.