Burley v. Gonzalez

BACKGROUND

This case involves a claim that the defendants were responsible for the death of James R. Burley, due to the excessive delay in getting Mr. Burley into surgery once he was diagnosed with a leaking abdominal aortic aneurysm. The essence of the plaintiffs case was that either the defendant Dr. Prusty, the emergency room physician who made the diagnosis, delayed in contacting the on-call surgeon, or the defendant Dr. Gonzalez, the on-call surgeon, took too long to respond to the call, or both. Following a trial in Salem Superior Court, the jury returned a verdict in favor of both…