A court in Malta has rejected a compensation claim by the family of former parliamentary secretary Joseph Cassar over his death following an interventional radiology procedure in 2017 according to a report from The Shift.
Cassar, 70, died on 2 May 2017 after a procedure at Mater Dei Hospital to open a blocked artery supplying his left leg and insert a stent. Severe calcification prevented access on the left side, so the radiologist approached through the right artery and restored blood flow. Cassar collapsed as he was being moved from the table and later died. An autopsy found a tear of about 2 cm in the left femoral artery and extensive internal bleeding, which the court accepted as the principal cause of death, with preexisting ischemic heart disease also contributing, according to the article.
The family argued that the team failed to detect the tear and bleeding in time. However, the court accepted evidence that Cassar’s vital signs were continuously monitored and remained stable, that a final angiogram showed no leakage, that arterial injury is a recognized complication of which he had been informed, and that resuscitation began promptly. The family was ordered to pay court costs, the news outlet reported.
