Stock image.
Lawrenceville, GA— Trial is expected to begin this week against a nurse practitioner and her supervising physician over the death of a Georgia woman, hours after her discharge from a hospital emergency department. Arnold v. Lee, R.N.P., et al. 17-C-07323-S2.
According to court documents, Keisha Arnold says her mother, Connie Arnold, died from a heart attack on December 17, 2015, less than three hours after being discharged from Clearview Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Department. Paramedics had taken Connie Arnold, 61, to the Monroe, Georgia facility earlier that day after she complained of sharp, ongoing chest pain.
Keisha Arnold contends registered nurse practitioner Youn Lee and her supervising physician, Dr. Eric Deal, failed to properly treat her mother, who showed symptoms of a possible cardiac event when she arrived at the facility. She maintains her mother bore several risk factors for coronary issues, and blood tests showed elevated troponin levels, one possible sign of a heart attack. However, Arnold claims Lee mischarted her mother’s complaints and improperly discharged her with a diagnosis of musculoskeletal pain.
Lee and Deal counter in court documents that their treatment was appropriate under the circumstances. They contend that they properly noted Connie Arnold’s symptoms before bringing in Arnold’s long-time physician, Dr. Bhavin Jani, who assumed responsibility for her care. Lee and Deal maintain Jani decided to discharge Arnold after learning she had been moving furniture around her home before her chest pain started days earlier. And Lee contends Arnold reported no chest pain just before her discharge.
Neither Jani nor Clearview will be defendants at trial.
Keisha Arnold is represented by Morgan & Morgan’s Keenan Nix, Christopher Graddock, and Matthew Huster, and The Summerville Law Firm’s Darren Summerville, according to court documents.
Youn Lee and her employer, Inphynet Primary Care Physicians Southeast, are represented by Stephen B. Moseley and Robert Berry, of Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson & Davis.
Dr. Eric Deal is represented by Huff Powell Bailey’s Michael Frankson and David Mize.
Trial is expected to open Tuesday and run about a week. Courtroom View Network is covering the trial gavel-to-gavel and will provide ongoing updates via its news page.
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
Not a subscriber?
