A St. Clair County man and his wife have voluntarily dismissed their medical malpractice claims against several physician groups alleging they failed to address risk factors prior to his heart attack.
The plaintiffs filed a motion for voluntary dismissal without prejudice on June 24.
Jeff Heuer and Musette Helene Vogel filed the complaint April 6 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Nidal Shawahin, M.D., P.C. Associates, LLC, Fairview Heights Medical Group, doing business as BJC Medical Group of Illinois, and physician groups.
The original complaint was filed through attorney Bruce Cook of Cook, Bartholomew, Shevlin, Cook & Jones in Belleville.
The plaintiffs filed an eight-count amended complaint on June 2 correcting Shawahin’s name. The amended complaint was filed through Tom Keefe III of Keefe, Keefe & Unsell PC in Belleville.
According to the amended complaint, Jeff Heuer suffered a heart attack on April 7, 2018, and was rushed to Mercy Hospital. The suit states that he nearly died. The plaintiffs allege he suffered the heart attack because the defendants failed to address several risk factors and test for cardiac conditions.
The plaintiffs accuse the defendants of negligently and carelessly disregarded several potential cardiac risk factors, including smoking, positive family history, high cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes. They are also accused of negligently and carelessly failed to screen the plaintiff for coronary artery disease.
They sought more than $75,000, plus costs, for each count.
Shawahin answered the original complaint on May 21 through attorney Matthew Zittel of Neville Richards & Wuller LLC in Belleville.
He denied liability and argued that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim upon which relief may be granted and the claims are barred by the statute of limitation.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 20-L-274