On May 4, 2017, plaintiff Alex Garcia, 53, a teacher, was involved in a motor-vehicle accident. He was transported to Natividad Medical Center, in Salinas, where he complained of chest pain, neck pain and leg swelling while in the emergency room. He claimed that he continued to complain of chest pain after he was admitted to the hospital. Garcia was released from the hospital the next day. On Nov. 30, 2017, Garcia was diagnosed with coronary artery disease, which Garica claimed was a result of the major blood vessels that supply his heart having been damaged. Garcia sued Natividad Medical Center; the hospital’s owner and operator, Monterey County; the hospital’s emergency physician, Dr. Laura Destro; another doctor who was involved in his care at the hospital, Dr. Brian Lugo; Lugo’s medical group, Brian Lugo, M.D. Medical Corp.; a nurse practitioner, R. Scott Weyland; a certified nursing assistant, Daniel Espinosa; and several registered nurses at the hospital, including Michael Ring-Martinez, Denise Emmel-Melching, Kassandra Vargas, Seth Nye, Harrima Wuamett and Patricia Vigil. Garcia alleged that the defendants failed to diagnose and treat his condition and that the defendants’ failures constituted medical malpractice. Several of the defendants settled out of the case prior to trial, and the matter only continued against Destro. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that, due to Garcia’s continuing complaints of chest pain, Destro failed to test Garcia for ischemia or a myocardial infarction and that, as a result, Destro failed to diagnose Garcia’s condition. Counsel also argued that Destro failed to diagnose an ongoing heart attack while Garcia was in the emergency room and that had Destro obtained a 12-lead electrocardiography, she would have made the diagnosis and would not have discharged Garcia with an ongoing heart attack. Destro’s counsel contended that Garcia never had cardiac chest pain and that Garcia never suffered a heart attack while at the hospital. Counsel argued that since there was no cardiac chest pain, the standard of care did not require a 12-lead electrocardiography. The defense’s cardiology expert testified that Garcia’s pre-incident and post-incident cardiac echocardiographies, which looked for irregularities in the heart’s structure using an ultrasonography, were identical, which proved that Garcia did not have a heart attack, as Garcia’s experts alleged., Garcia was diagnosed with coronary artery disease on Nov. 30, 2017. He claimed that due to the delay in diagnosing the heart attack, his heart condition was exacerbated. He alleged that as a result, he will have to undergo a future heart transplant. Garcia sought recovery of past and future medical costs, and damages for his past and future pain and suffering. His wife, Marichel Polhen, sought recovery of damages for her loss of consortium. However, she died from unrelated causes prior to trial and was subsequently dismissed from the case.