A Florida doctor misdiagnosed a fatal heart problem. The fine for the doctor: $3,000

“Failure to diagnose and treat” a heart problem before a patient died of cardiac arrest got a Palm Beach Gardens doctor fined by the state Board of Medicine.

Rudolph Levy was 75. Dr. Anna Abel was fined $3,000.

In addition to the fine, Abel was assessed $6,109 in Florida Department of Health case costs; ordered to take two five-hour continuing medical education courses, in risk management and internal medicine. Online DOH records say this is the first disciplinary action against Abel since she began practicing Jan. 1, 1997.

Abel’s license also shows $400,000 paid in a malpractice lawsuit filed in Collier County, although a check of court records and state insurance records show that should be $250,000 paid on a malpractice lawsuit filed by Levy’s widow in Palm Beach County against Abel and other medical staff working at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center on Feb. 16-18, 2020.

A fall in the home, a tear in the heart

State insurance online records say fire rescue workers brought Levy to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center emergency room on Feb. 16, 2020, after a fall at home.

Levy showed up “with complaints of chest pain, heaviness, near syncope diaphoresis, nausea and hypertension,” insurance records say.

Abel, the DOH complaint against her said, was the attending provider and co-signed orders for him to be admitted to the outpatient telemetry unit.

“Outpatient cardiac telemetry has an extended memory capable of continuous measurement of heart rate and rhythm over several days,” explains Regional Cardiology Consultants, an affiliate of Penn Medicine Cardiology “Cardiac events are detected even if the patient is asymptomatic. The recordings are transmitted to a central surveillance center for real-time analysis with possible initiation of anti-arrhythmic drug treatment.”

But, the complaint said, Levy shouldn’t have been assigned to that unit. Abel “did not thoroughly investigate the possibility of other differential diagnoses” of Levy’s problem.

Insurance records say Abel’s mistake was ”failure to diagnose and treat aortic dissection resulting in death.”

The Mayo Clinic explains, “During an aortic dissection, the inner layer of the aorta — the major blood vessel that takes oxygenated blood to the body — tears, causing the inner and middle layers to become separated.

“For people who experience aortic dissection, simply surviving the event is a triumph. Nearly 18% of those who sustain aortic dissection die before arriving at the hospital, and 21% die within 24 hours if they don’t have surgery.”

Insurance records say Levy was sent to surgery eventually on Feb. 18 and died, the complaint said, “with an immediate cause of death being cardiac failure.”

DUI crash

On July 8, 2021, arrest records say Abel ran her 2019 Mercedes SL 450 into a light pole “and continued to accelerate” near Okeechobee Boulevard and Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach.

Among the sobriety tests, a West Palm Beach officer said, was the alphabet test.

“I instructed the driver to recite the alphabet from A to Z in a non-rhythmic manner. Driver spoke very quickly and began to sing the alphabet. Driver stated ‘ABCDEFG....whatever.’”

Abel pleaded guilty to DUI with property damage and resisting an officer without violence. Her probation lasted 12 months and her driver’s license suspension lasted six month.

©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.