Brooklyn Man Dies of Heart Attack After a Series of Medical Errors at Maimonides Medical Center

Doctors at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, seriously dropped the ball on maintaining the standard of care in 2008. Jacob Goldbrenner, a Brooklyn man, was brought to Maimonides with chest pains in July of that year, but tragically died as a result of a series of medical errors.

In fact, Goldbrenner was suffering a serious heart attack. However, he and his family waited five hours while waiting for someone to treat his ailing heart. First, doctors couldn’t locate the key to the cardiac catheterization lab, then they couldn’t find an anesthesiologist. Horrifically, one medical resident didn’t even know where the lab was located. The cardiac catheterization lab could’ve saved Goldbrenner’s life, since the lab is typically where doctors are able to check blood flow, determine defects of the heart, and perform angioplasty or other life-saving procedures during a heart attack.

Ultimately, Goldbrenner was not getting enough oxygen to his heart, and it became necessary for doctors to insert a tube into his lungs to help relieve the problem. Unfortunately, the tube was placed in his stomach instead. Finally, he was placed in an ambulance and taken to Westchester Medical Center, where he was told he would receive a heart transplant. There was no heart available at Westchester, however, and Goldbrenner died two weeks later.