The plaintiffs brought a medical malpractice action against the deceased's family physician following the deceased's sudden cardiac death.
The plaintiffs alleged the physician breached the standard of care by failing to elicit symptoms of coronary artery disease during a periodic health examination and by failing to send a referral for a stress test.
The court found the physician met the standard of care during the examination.
While the physician admitted breaching the standard of care by failing to send the referral later, the court concluded this breach did not cause the death, as the deceased would not have received treatment before his death due to specialist wait times, and the fatal arrhythmia was likely caused by pre-existing scarring rather than an acute ischemic event.
The action was dismissed.
