GREENVILLE —Two witnesses were called on behalf of the plaintiff in a medical malpractice trial against Wayne HealthCare in Darke County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday. Judge Jonathan P. Hein presided.

Kyle Dillman, son of late New Weston resident Tisha K. Gibson, filed suits against Wayne HealthCare Physician’s Assistant James Zimmerman and Wayne HealthCare on count one of wrongful death and count two of personal injury in May 2019.

The charges followed Gibson’s day-long stint in the Wayne HealthCare Emergency Department (ED) on May 30, 2018, in which her chief complaints were allegedly “dizziness,” “palpitations,” a “headache” and “shortness of breath.” Gibson was treated by Zimmerman during her stay in the ED, and after he looked after her, and she was given fluids, Zimmerman discharged Gibson home with a diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo and some prescriptions for nausea and dizziness at approximately 6 p.m. According to her witness testimony on Tuesday, Gibson’s daughter Megan Goewert went to her mother’s the next day at approximately 1 p.m. to check on her and found her deceased.

Gibson’s estate is alleging that Zimmerman did not clear her for all potential life-threatening problems prior to her discharge, such as a pulmonary embolism, from which her estate claims she died.

A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot gets lodged in an artery in the lung, blocking blood flow to part of the lung. Common symptoms of pulmonary embolism are fast heart rate, shortness of breath, palpitations, chest pain and low oxygen levels.

Dr. Colin Kaide, M.D., emergency physician and medical school professor at The Ohio State University, and Dr. Eric Gluck, M.D., critical care physician and educator at Swedish Hospital in Chicago, both testified on behalf of the plaintiff.

Dr. Kaide testified that Zimmerman didn’t meet the standard because he didn’t address one of Gibson’s chief complaints.

“He did not meet the standard of care,” he said. “The patient came into the emergency room complaining of shortness of breath and left the emergency department with a diagnosis that had nothing to do with shortness of breath, and was physiologically not plausible. The issue of shortness of breath was never addressed. As I said before, unexplained shortness of breath has to have an answer.”

Court will reconvene at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday.