The decedent, a woman age 60, presented to the emergency room in November, 2000, with complaint of diffuse abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting bilious material. Patient had a prior visit to the same emergency room in May of 2000 with ultrasound c/w gallstones. A chest x-ray performed on the visit of November 5th showed increased bilateral pleural effusions and acute cholecystitis was diagnosed and patient was admitted and underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy on November 7th and was discharged the following day.

The decedent returned to the emergency room a few days following surgery complaining of severe abdominal pain and coffee ground vomitus with progressive abdominal distention. Patient was admitted. A CT scan of the abdomen was not ordered for nine hours and patient was not seen by her doctor for fifteen to seventeen hours later. Patient was taken back to the operating room with finding of a rent in the cystic duct proximal to the surgical clips placed during the prior surgery.

The patient's post operative course was complicated by episodes of ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation followed by a myocardial infarction and ventilator dependence. Patient required a tracheostomy with eventual vent wean. The patient went on to have another episode of ventricular arrhythmia and could not be resuscitated. Autopsy findings were concurrent with complete obstruction of the proximal left anterior descending artery with extensive infarcts of the anterior, posterior and lateral walls of the left ventricle.

The plaintiff claimed that the attending physicians failed to promptly evaluate the patient's bile leak upon readmission to the hospital. They also claimed that the proper diagnostic studies were not ordered, nor was the proper surgery performed once the bile leak was diagnosed.

medQuest provided a general surgeon who provided the opinion that had they operated within a reasonable amount of time, (within three to four hours,) of the patient's admission to the hospital, the patient would more then likely have survived. A jury found for the plaintiff in this matter, awarding a $1.3 million verdict in the state of Pennsylvania.