Claim: The patient was not referred for urgent catheterization

A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed in recent days, by the Anat Ginzburg & Co. attorney office, to the District Court in Tel Aviv, against Sha’are Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem. The lawsuit describes gross medical negligence in the diagnosis and treatment of a heart attack that allegedly caused the death of Abner Perry, when he was only 55 years old.

According to the claim, after the start of the Iron Swords War, Perry and his family were evacuated from their home in the north to a hotel in Jerusalem. In November 2023, Perry was admitted to Shaare Zedek Hospital due to pain in his left hand, shoulders and armpit area. During the evacuation, the MDA team performed an EKG test. The test, it is claimed, indicated signs of ischemia in the heart muscle.

Attorneys Ginzburg and Ostrovsky-Shahar claim that the treatment of Perry at the hospital was negligent from the first stage in which the deceased was admitted. “Already upon his arrival at the emergency department he was classified as a low-risk patient, even though he complained of heart symptoms, and even though the EKG tests performed on him showed clear signs of a serious heart problem. Instead of receiving urgent care, supervision and monitoring, he was sent to wait – without a request for urgency.”

They also claimed that only after more than an hour and a half, Perry was examined by a specialist doctor, and he, according to them, ignored the findings of the tests, the risk factors and the fact that the patient was under severe mental stress from the very beginning – after being evacuated from his home following the war. “Instead of immediately referring him to a life-saving catheterization, he was sent for an unnecessary chest x-ray which caused a waste of precious time. He was sent casually for the x-ray, without medical accompaniment and without guidance.”

The lawsuit describes that during the late Perry’s stay at the imaging institute, he fainted, bruised his head and even then he did not receive immediate treatment. “Long minutes passed until he was transferred to the shock room, already without a pulse. Only then were CPR and electric shocks performed. The catheterization, which had to be performed urgently upon his arrival at the hospital, was only done about three and a half hours later – and only after he had suffered a cardiac arrest,” the lawyers claim.

The serious and negligent delay in treatment caused, according to them, a severe heart attack, cardiac arrest and very serious brain damage. Later, he underwent medical procedures that included opening the trachea for respiration. His family members were informed that his condition is very serious and that the chance of a significant brain injury is high. Perry was later hospitalized in various intensive care units for treatment of the severe convulsions, but there was no apparent improvement in his neurological condition.

It is also claimed that for over a year the deceased was hospitalized in respiratory wards, while he was unconscious and in the defined state of death. He was fed through a feeding tube, suffered from recurrent infections and required full nursing care. Later, he was transferred to a nursing home closer to his family home, to make it easier for his wife and son .A few days after being transferred to another geriatric institution, he died. “His death occurred after about one year and seven months of continuous suffering, prolonged hospitalizations and a severe brain injury – this is a direct result of a chain of serious failures in the initial medical treatment,” claim the lawyers.

The opinion that claimed negligence

The lawsuit was accompanied by an opinion from an expert specializing in cardiology, a former director of a cardiology department at a hospital who claimed, among other things, that the Shaare Zedek hospital was grossly negligent in treating the deceased – negligence that caused his death. According to him, Shell Perry’s condition requires immediate hospitalization in cardiac intensive care and urgent catheterization, but in practice he was mistakenly classified as low-risk, was examined late, and the medical team did not properly address the clear EKG findings and the significant risk factors. “Instead of transferring him to a life-saving catheterization, the deceased was sent for an unnecessary chest x-ray, alone and unaccompanied,” he claimed. “During his stay in the imaging institute, he collapsed, developed a cardiac arrest, and the resuscitation began late. The catheterization was performed only hours after his arrival at the emergency room – critically late.”

The expert emphasized in his opinion that in the world of cardiology the rule is clear: “Time is the muscle of the heart”. If an immediate catheterization had been performed when the deceased arrived at the hospital, it would have been possible to prevent the damage to the heart, its collapse, and the chain of events that led to his death after about one year and seven months of suffering.”.

The lawsuit demands compensation from the hospital relating to the damages caused and will be caused to the deceased’s family, including the deceased’s future earnings losses, pain and suffering, and more.

His wife, Ruthie Perry, says that “the gross negligence of the hospital led to Avner’s death after he suffered much agony. It is impossible to understand how a hospital in Israel where my husband went to receive treatment, finally caused his death at a young age and left the family heartbroken.”

Attorneys Ginzburg and Ostrovsky-Shahar claim that this is a serious case of medical negligence in the treatment of an acute heart attack, in which the necessary and urgent steps were not taken as soon as the deceased arrived at the emergency room. “The critical delay in treatment led to a severe heart attack, a significant brain injury and finally the death of the deceased – a result that could have been prevented with proper and timely medical treatment. When a patient comes for treatment with a suspected cardiac or cerebrovascular event, the medical team is expected to diagnose and treat quickly in order to prevent tragic cases like this case that deviated from the accepted medical practice.”

The late Perry worked in a kibbutz in the north and left behind a wife and three children.

Shaare Tzedek’s response: “The claim has been accepted and we are prevented from providing details. Shaare Tzedek will respond as is customary in court.”