On January 4. 2008, Antonio Molina III was admitted to Westchester Medical Center after being diagnosed with pleural fluid in his lungs. Two days later, Mr. Molina, then 35 years old, suffered a heart attack while in the hospital’s care.

Tests later that day found that a heart vessel was completely obstructed. The insertion of a stent was unsuccessful. Thereafter, over the next three years, Mr. Molina was treated for congestive heart failure at multiple different hospitals. He died on October 27, 2011 from complications from a ventricular assist device that had been implanted earlier that year.

In the ensuing wrongful death case against Westchester Medical Center and its doctors, plaintiff claimed that the defendants failed to timely diagnose and treat Mr. Molina’s heart attack.

The jury returned a liability verdict against the defendants finding that their malpractice was causally related to both the heart attack and plaintiff’s death.

The jury awarded damages in the sum of $3,650,000 as follows:

• $1,000,000 for pre-death emotional pain and suffering,
• $1,000,000 for pre-death physical pain and suffering,
• $600,00 for lost earnings,
• $350,000 for lost services and,
• $700,000 for loss of parental guidance.

The defendants appealed claiming both that the liability verdict should be reversed and that the damages awards were excessive. In addition, they argued that the awards for pain and suffering and “emotional” pain and suffering were duplicative.

In Molina v. Goldberg (2d Dept. 2024), the appellate court upheld the liability verdict but reduced the damages award by the $1,000,000 that the jury had awarded for emotional pain and suffering. The court stated that this award was for pre-impact terror delineated as emotional pain and suffering and it was inappropriate as a separate item of damages.

Inside Information:

• In 2023, the Appellate Division, First Department reached a different conclusion as to pre-impact terror emotional damages in Small v. City of New York (a case in which I was plaintiff’s damages consultant). In that case , the court allowed both an award for physical pain and suffering and an award for emotional pain and suffering (i.e., for decedent’s fear of impending death).
• The parental guidance damage award was for Mr. Molina’s younger son who was seven years old at the time of trial. He was born after the malpractice occurred.
• On 12/27/07, Mr. Molina had been in a single car accident (he was the driver). He was treated that day and released from an ER after complaining of chest, back and ankle pain.