In Brief
- A Hennepin County jury awarded $84 million in a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit against Fairview Health Services.
- Reece Devlin sought care for chest pain at M Health Fairview Clinic Uptown in 2022 and received an EKG, but no additional cardiac workup.
- Devlin’s wife alleged Fairview physician assistant Jeffrey Schmidt was negligent and failed to disclose the risks of foregoing additional cardiac testing.
- The jury found Schmidt’s negligence caused Devlin’s death, awarding damages for loss of financial support and companionship, including $62.5 million for future loss of companionship.
Reece Devlin died of a heart attack after he had complained of chest pain and been seen by Fairview Health Services. In a wrongful death suit, a Hennepin County jury recently awarded $84 million.
Devlin was originally from Australia and settled in Minneapolis. He had been a partner with Ernst & Young.
In 2022, Devlin visited a Fairview clinic — M Health Fairview Clinic Uptown — regarding chest pain. Devlin had several risk factors for cardiac disease, including coronary calcium, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. While physician assistant Jeffrey Schmidt, PA-C, ordered an EKG — the results of which were normal — he did not order a cardiac workup or mention that options beyond the EKG existed, such as a stress test or echocardiogram, the lawsuit stated. Nor did Schmidt allegedly tell Devlin that he could be having a serious cardiac problem that was causing the chest pain…