On May 10, 2009, plaintiff Steve Wong, 54, a machine operator, presented to Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville with complaints of chest pain and discomfort. He was subsequently seen in the emergency room and given nitroglycerin and aspirin, which relieved his chest pain. Wong was then admitted for three days and was thought to have coronary artery disease. On May 14, Wong had an angiogram, which demonstrated partial occlusion to the left anterior descending artery and the right coronary artery. As a result, he was scheduled to have a balloon angiogram the following day. Plaintiffs’ counsel noted that as of 2009, Desert Valley Hospital could only perform angiograms in a medical emergency because the hospital lacked cardiac open heart surgery capabilities in an event of a complication. Regardless, on May 15, 2009, Wong underwent an angioplasty on the subject vessels by Dr. Siva Arunasalam, who implanted stents in both arteries. Wong was then transferred from the catheterization laboratory to the intensive care unit. Shortly thereafter, he developed clotting in both stent sites and proceeded to have a heart attack. Wong was ultimately given anticoagulants two hours later. As a result, Wong suffered a loss of heart muscle and function. Wong initially sued Desert Valley Hospital; Arunasalam; a hospitalist, Jillian Gray, D.O.; a consulting cardiologist, Jules Pean, M.D.; and an associate of Arunasalam’s who dropped in on the ICU while Wong was having the heart attack, Ramin Bahman Ashtiani, M.D. Wong alleged that the defendants failed to timely treat his heart attack and that this failure constituted medical malpractice. The hospital, Gray and Pean settled out of the case prior to trial, while Ashtiani was dismissed at the end of plaintiff’s case in chief. Thus, the matter continued against Arunasalam only. Wong’s counsel contended that after Wong proceeded to have a heart attack, it took two hours for Arunasalam, the hospital’s only interventional cardiologist, to return and administer anticoagulants. Counsel also contended that Arunasalam then did not follow up with Wong or timely order him back to the catheterization laboratory. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel argued that Arunasalam was negligent, as the only interventional cardiologist who could have taken Wong back to the catheterization laboratory and performed a surgery to open up the clogged vessels, but that Arunasalam did not do so in a timely manner. Plaintiffs’ counsel further argued that Arunasalam failed to appropriately follow-up after the subject angioplasty and that when Arunasalam did follow-up, he failed to take the only measure of acceptable medical standards, which was to immediately take Wong to the catheterization laboratory. Counsel further contended that as a result of the untimely treatment of the heart attack, Wong suffered a loss of heart muscle and function. Arunasalam claimed that his choice of scope of the procedure was within the standard of care and within his medical judgment to decide. He also claimed that he did not receive the two pages made by the medical staff for him to see Wong because he was in the catheterization laboratory. In addition, Arunasalam claimed that when he was at Wong’s bedside, the only appropriate care was to administer anticoagulants and wait to see if they worked., Wong developed clotting in both stent sites and proceeded to have a heart attack. He was ultimately given anticoagulants two hours later. However, he claimed that the untimely treatment of the heart attack resulted in a loss of heart muscle. As a result, Wong had an implantable defibrillator placed and he requires ongoing medical management for the rest of his life. Wong, who was a machine operator, claimed he can no longer work because of the physically strenuous nature of his employment. He also claimed his life expectancy is reduced by 10 years as a result of the loss of heart muscle and function. Wong’s wife, Huizhu Lin, presented a derivative claim, seeking recovery of damages for her loss of consortium. Defense counsel contended that Wong’s alleged damages are due to his underlying coronary artery disease, diabetes and hypertension.