Several days after being discharged from the hospital with what doctors said was an earache, Franco DeRungs died of a heart attack. The 46-year-old First National Bank senior vice president went to the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California complaining of chest and ear pains. He was discharged later that day. One week later he was dead.

A San Diego jury awarded DeRungs' wife and three children $4.7 million. According to jurors, the clinic was negligent in releasing DeRungs without reviewing the results of his electrocardiogram (EKG). The doctor in charge of reviewing the EKG failed to do so and instead wrote "EKG normal" on DeRungs' chart. Another clinic doctor reviewed DeRungs' EKG days after his visit but failed to notify DeRungs that the results were abnormal.