Never give medical advice outside of an office visit. Not over the phone. Not in the parking lot:
Although Herbert O’Rourke had diabetes, Norma said he often woke at 5:30 a.m. to walk four or five times around nearby Heckscher Pond. So she was concerned when he complained of shortness of breath and chest pains on Nov. 6 after a quick walk to the mailbox.
The next morning, O’Rourke stopped at North Shore Medical Group, on Park Avenue in Huntington, to see Nakamura, who had given O’Rourke a routine checkup on Oct. 21.
Nakamura was off that day but had stopped to pick up the mail when the two ran into each other in the parking lot.
Schlitt said Nakamura prescribed Nitrostat, a drug that studies advise should be used cautiously in diabetics. He then scheduled a stress test for O’Rourke on Nov. 23.
