As we noted last week here on our Ann Arbor medical malpractice blog, it's possible for a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose to arise in any number of situations. Sometimes, a provider may proceed with a diagnosis in spite of difficulty understanding a patient's native language; a hospital may fail to provide trained, professional interpreters who can facilitate the kind of detailed, accurate communication necessary for a diagnosis.
Heart failure symptoms, awareness for Ann Arbor residents
We hope that our last post here on our Ann Arbor medical malpractice law blog got our readers thinking about how they might handle a situation in which they suspect that a physician has failed to diagnose a heart condition. In that story, a patient died during gallbladder surgery because of his providers' failure to diagnose heart failure. Let's look at some of the signs that should ordinarily serve as red flags to doctors that a patient may be suffering heart failure, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Failure to diagnose heart condition leads to patient's death
Heart problems are among the more serious health issues that Ann Arbor residents may face in their lifetimes. Because of the serious risks posed by heart conditions, physicians are trained to recognize signs in their patients that could be indicators of a heart attack or similar emergency related to the heart. When they fail to diagnose such a condition, they may be held liable in court for damages resulting from their negligence.
Victim losing speech due to doctor's failure to diagnose cancer
There is a tragic fact underlying many misdiagnosis cases here in Ann Arbor and across the United States. That is that some victims do not live long enough to hold a negligent physician accountable for failing to live up to the standards of the profession. However, a victim in one recent case is working with her legal counsel to try to tell her side of the story while she still can.
