9/21/97 - Plff decedent, female age 52, executive secretary. Decedent presented to her primary care clinic with shortness of breath. She was first diagnosed with bronchitis (by RN). She returned the next day, saw a nurse practitioner, and was told she had asthma/bronchitis. Decedent returned the third day in respiratory distress. The nurse practitioner called the doctor who remembered the patient from an inpatient psychiatric hold six months earlier. Plff contended he ran a blood gas test which was abnormal (low PO2) but diagnosed Plff decedent as having anxiety attacks. She died the next day from pulmonary embolism. The autopsy showed she had smaller emboli preceding days, causing symptoms before final event caused death.