Articles Posted in Aortic Dissection Death

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Bryan O’Neal Roach, 23, went to a hospital emergency room complaining of chest pain. The physician assistant, Amber Harring, examined him. Diagnostic tests were ordered including an EKG, chest X-ray and bloodwork. Harring later discharged Roach after diagnosing atypical chest pain and febrile illness.

Unfortunately, later that morning, Roach died of an aortic dissection. He was survived by his parents.

The Roach family sued Harring, her employer, and her supervising physician, alleging they chose not to order a CT scan in light of Roach’s grossly abnormal chest X-ray, which showed a wide mediastinum. A mediastinum is an abnormal membranous partition between two body cavities or two parts of an organ, especially between the lungs. A widened mediastinum is indicative of an aortic aneurysm or an aortic dissection and other life-threatening conditions. This condition should have been diagnosed and treated as a medical emergency.
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Jonathan Rabkin, 53, went to a hospital emergency room complaining of the sudden onset of upper abdominal pain radiating to his back. The attending emergency room physician, Dr. Vikram Varma, ordered a chest x-ray and chest CT scan without contrast.

Radiologist Dr. Paul Shieh interpreted the CT scan as showing a 5.2 cm ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm. An aneurysm by definition is an excessive localized enlargement of an artery caused by a weakening of the artery wall. In too many patient cases, an aneurysm left unrecognized and untreated can be deadly.

Rabkin was then admitted for observation and five hours later underwent an enhanced CT scan, which showed a type A aortic dissection.
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