MEDICAL MALPRACTICE RELATED INJURY

California Personal Injury Lawyer
Los Angeles, California

Patient's Death Prompts Lawsuit

Medical Malpractice

February 3, 2006

Medical Malpractice

Los Angeles, CA - The wife of a man who died in 2003 alleges that his doctor prescribed medication without running proper tests.

Herbert O'Rourke, a 67-year-old Huntington man died from cardiorespiratory arrest on Nov. 14, 2003.

One week after he ran into his primary care physician in the office parking lot, he complained about chest pain and received a prescription for Nitrostat without stepping foot in the office.

The physician, Dr. Hachiro Nakamura, then failed to document the Nov. 7 meeting on O'Rourke's death certificate, which prompted O'Rourke's wife, Norma, to allege medical malpractice and file a wrongful death lawsuit against her husband's 20-year physician.

The lawsuit, filed in November in State Supreme Court in Riverhead, alleges that Nakamura and the North Shore Medical Group failed to 'perform tests' on Herbert O'Rourke, improperly treated, handled and cared for him, and prescribed medication 'without conducting appropriate tests.'

Lucia Lee, a spokeswoman for The Mount Sinai Hospital, of which the North Shore Medical Group is an affiliate, said it is hospital policy not to comment on cases under litigation.

Carol Schlitt, Norma O'Rourke's attorney, said she reported Nakamura's alleged misconduct to the state Department of Health earlier this week. Schlitt alleges, Nakamura's decisions on Nov. 7 had devastating effects.

Although Herbert O'Rourke had diabetes, Norma said he often woke at 5:30 a.m. to walk four or five times around nearby Heckscher Pond. So she was concerned when he complained of shortness of breath and chest pains on Nov. 6 after a quick walk to the mailbox.

The next morning, O'Rourke stopped at North Shore Medical Group, on Park Avenue in Huntington, to see Nakamura, who had given O'Rourke a routine checkup on Oct. 21.

Nakamura was off that day but had stopped to pick up the mail when the two ran into each other in the parking lot.

Schlitt said Nakamura prescribed Nitrostat, a drug that studies advise should be used cautiously in diabetics. He then scheduled a stress test for O'Rourke on Nov. 23.

Nakamura's actions in the days that followed, the lawsuit also claimed that the doctor's actions inflicted emotional distress upon the victim's wife.

 
 
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