Michael Goldstein, MD

Phil Brooks describes himself as being more than a little stubborn, which is why he did not seek immediate medical attention when he started waking up in the middle of the night gasping for breath several years ago. “I just shrugged it off thinking it was nothing serious,” says Brooks, 72, a retired mechanical engineer from Lynn. “The sensation would go away once I got up and started moving around, so I wasn’t too worried.” After several weeks of disrupted sleep, however, Brooks finally paid a visit to the Emergency Department at NSMC Union Hospital to figure out what was going on. “I might have given it a few more days or even weeks to see how it played out, but my wife, Bernice, insisted I see a doctor,” says Brooks. Once in the Emergency Department, Brooks was treated by NSMC cardiologist Michael Goldstein, M.D., who admitted him for testing. A cardiac ultrasound revealed heart weakness. Read more