The decedent, Dan Haas, experienced severe pain between his shoulder blades and had shortness of breath after he returned home from a hunting trip on December 24, 2020. Because his symptoms did not get better, he telephoned his cardiologist, John M. Galla, M.D., of Cardiology Associates, the next day. Dr. Gallo reportedly told Mr. Haas to take it easy that day (Christmas Day) and to come to his office that Monday for a stress test.
As instructed, Mr. Haas went to Dr. Galla’s office on Monday, December 28, 2020, with complaints of continuing chest pain, where he underwent a cardiac stress test with abnormal results. As a result, Dr. Galla ordered a cardiac catheterization that he preformed on December 30, 2020 which reportedly showed a life-threatening blockage . According to the Alabama medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit, Dr. Galla failed to treat the blockage with blood thinners and discharged Mr. Hass to home. Dr. Galla reportedly cleared Mr. Haas for eye surgery scheduled for the following week, and instructed Mr. Hass to begin taking blood thinners after his eye surgery.
Mr. Hass died that night in bed. The plaintiffs’ cardiology experts reportedly testified at trial that Dr. Galla was negligent in discharging Mr. Haas shortly after the cardiac catheterization and failing to begin blood thinners, and that if Dr. Galla had kept Mr. Haas in the hospital instead of discharging him home, it was highly probable that Mr. Haas would have survived.
The defense reportedly created a situation at trial that required Dr. Galla to contradict the medical records from Cardiology Associates, including Dr. Galla’s own entries in the records.
The Alabama medical malpractice wrongful death jury returned its verdict in the amount of $50 million after a thirteen day trial.
One of the Plaintiff’s attorneys stated after the verdict, “The Haas family – Barbara, Sarah, Carrie, and Daniel – have been fighting to expose the truth of what happened to them for more than five years. This verdict affirms what they’ve known all along – that Dan should have been admitted to the hospital. And if he had been, he’d be alive and here with them today.” Another attorney stated, “On behalf of the family, we repeatedly tried to settle this case before trial. The defense made it clear they had no interest in resolving the case and forced the family to take this case to a jury. We relied on the contemporaneous medical records-they were accurate. The defense and their experts took the position these records were wrong. The jury spoke loudly about this, and the lack of care Dan received and the attempts to cover up the mistakes that were made.”
If you or a loved one suffered harm (or worse) as a result of a cardiac catheterization procedure in Alabama or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Alabama medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your cardiac catheterization medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a cardiac catheterization medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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