Heart Attack Misdiagnosis

You might ask, “How could a doctor miss a heart attack?” It does happen, as not every person having a heart attack presents with the classic symptoms of severe or crushing chest pain that radiates to the left arm, shortness of breath and severe sweating. Sometimes the only symptoms of a heart attack are a sensation of profound weakness, nausea and vomiting and a confused state.

A heart attack results from the sudden blockage of blood flow to the heart muscle itself. Blood supplies the heart with oxygen that it needs to survive. Without oxygen, the affected heart muscle dies.

Often a person experiencing symptoms felt to be a heart attack, will present to an emergency department where an EKG (electrocardiogram) and cardiac enzymes will be ordered by the doctor as a way to determine if indeed a heart attack is occurring. Often the EKG and cardiac enzymes initially are normal and despite the patient’s clinical history, the patient is sent home only to have a full-blown heart attack after leaving the emergency department. If a patient’s clinical history alone is strongly suggestive of a heart attack, regardless of a normal EKG and normal cardiac enzymes, it may be sufficient reason to require admission to a hospital’s monitored unit. Often the diagnosis of heart attack cannot be excluded until EKG and cardiac enzymes have been followed for a period of several hours.

If you or a family member has suffered as a result of a misdiagnosis of heart attack or failure to diagnose a heart attack contact our experienced medical malpractice attorneys at KMH.

New Jersey Emergency Room Errors and Emergency Room Abuse

Emergency healthcare workers provide the initial evaluation and treatment for patients of all ages with medical and surgical problems. Furthermore, emergency care is the only type of medical care required by law to be provided to all who need it regardless of complaint, time of day, or ability to pay. Emergency healthcare workers provide care 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients are seen without appointments and thus a mechanism must be incorporated to prioritize need to ensure that the sickest patients are seen first; this concept of triage should be done early in the emergency department encounter. Emergency healthcare workers manage multiple patients and coordinate multiple activities that assist in providing patient care and while all this is going on, lab and x-ray results are being returned to the physician on the very patients he is treating. The emergency physician must know when to enlist the assistance of a specialist consultant and whether to admit a patient or discharge him to home. All of this activity unfortunately lends itself to the potential for the care received by the patient to fall below the acceptable standards of care which can lead to further injury and problems for the patient. If you or a family member has suffered as a result of negligent care by an emergency health care provider, please contact our experienced medical malpractice attorneys at KMH to learn your legal rights are simply answer your questions.

Stroke Misdiagnosis

A stroke is a neurological condition in which a person manifests symptoms, such as paralysis, altered sensation of one side of the body, or speech difficulties. A stroke is caused by a diminished or absent blood flow to a part of the brain. Because various parts of the brain are responsible for different neurological functions, from basic functions such as breathing, to movement and sensation, to advanced functions as thought, the symptoms demonstrated by a person having a stroke are a reflection of the affected area in the brain. Strokes are most commonly due to a blockage of an artery in the brain and are referred to as ischemic strokes. The blockage is caused by a blood clot. The other cause of a stroke is bleeding in the brain which can be due to high blood pressure or one of several blood vessel abnormalities.

When diagnosis of a stroke is being entertained by a physician, time is of the essence and the initial assessment must determine the cause of the stroke as the treatment is different for an ischemic stroke versus a hemorrhagic stroke. If the diagnosis is an ischemic stroke, thrombolytic treatment, a breaking up of the clot causing a stroke, can be initiated only within three hours of the onset of the stroke. If the time of onset of stroke symptoms cannot be accurately determined then this treatment should be withheld. If the stroke is due to hemorrhage, then thrombolytic treatment cannot be given as it will cause further hemorrhage in the brain. Thus, it is imperative that a person with a change in neurological status be assessed rapidly so that the proper treatment can be initiated and further damage avoided. If you or a family member has suffered as a result of a misdiagnosis of stroke or a failure to diagnose stroke and treat in a timely manner, contact our experienced medical malpractice attorneys at KMH. to learn your legal rights or simply answer your questions.

Prenatal Birth Defects and MisDiagnosis

Prenatal misdiagnosis refers to identifiable birth defects or genetic diseases during a woman’s pregnancy which are not diagnosed due to healthcare provider negligence. This failure deprives the parents of an opportunity to choose whether or not to continue the pregnancy and/or whether to conceive in the future. If a healthcare provider’s negligence is the cause of a birth defect or genetic disease not being discovered during pregnancy, in some states including New Jersey, a wrongful birth claim can be made.

Obstetricians are required to inform a pregnant woman of available prenatal screening blood tests which include:

• Cystic fibrosis
• Canavans Disease (if of Jewish descent)
• Sickle Cell Disease (if of African American descent)
• Tay – Sachs disease (if of Jewish or Cajun descent)
• Thallasemias (if of Mediterranean or Southeast Asian descent)

A test referred to as a quadruple screen should be offered to a pregnant woman between 16 and 18 weeks gestation. A test result that is abnormally high or low could be associated with an increased risk of Down syndrome and/or neural tube defects. If the quadruple screen result is abnormal, the patient should be offered further testing which may include an ultrasound or amniocentesis to assist with arriving at a definitive diagnosis.

An ultrasound or sonogram should be performed at 16 to 22 weeks gestation to evaluate fetal anatomy. Many fetal anomalies can be detected if the examination is performed thoroughly and include neural tube defects, heart and brain defects, Down syndrome and missing organs and bones.

The following is a list of common mistakes made in prenatal misdiagnosis cases:
failure to take a thorough genetic screening history of both parents
failure to offer appropriate prenatal testing at the required gestational age
failure to offer the quadruple screen at the required gestational age
misplacing prenatal screening results by the obstetrician or by office
personnel
improper laboratory interpretation of prenatal screening tests
improper interpretation of the ultrasound or sonogram surveying fetal
anatomy

In order to recover for a prenatal misdiagnosis or wrongful birth claim, the parents must prove that a healthcare provider was negligent and that the negligence prevented them from knowing that there was an increased risk that the fetus had a birth defect or genetic disease and they must prove that if told of the genetic disease or defect during the pregnancy, they would have chosen to terminate the pregnancy and not to undertake the emotional hardship and financial responsibility involved in caring for a disabled child with a lifelong disability. If a wrongful birth claim is proven, the parents will receive monetary compensation for the special medical expenses and other extraordinary expenses related to the child’s condition for the duration of the child’s lifetime and also receive monetary compensation for the emotional injury and anguish endured by the parents for being forced to take on the lifetime burdens and tasks of raising a disabled child.

If your child has a birth defect or genetic disorder or disease that you suspect could have been detectable during pregnancy, getting compensation may be the only way to provide care and services needed to help your child receive optimum care and services. Please contact the medical malpractice attorneys at KM H. to assist you.

NJ Birth Injury Lawyers giving support and information on birth injury.

During the course of labor and delivery complications can occur which result in various health problems for a newborn. Collectively, these problems are referred to as birth trauma or birth injuries. Statistics show that approximately 27 out of every 1000 births involve some sort of birth related injury, with cerebral palsy as one of the most common. Other common birth injuries include oxygen deprivation, Erb’s Palsy, Klumpkie’s Palsy and brachial plexus injuries. These injuries are most often the result of medical negligence or error. A baby with a birth injury may make a full recovery or may suffer lifelong physical and or mental limitations.

Birth injuries are generally caused by operative deliveries, whether vaginal or abdominal. Operative delivery means the use of obstetrical forceps, vacuum extraction, or cesarean section to achieve the delivery. Birth injuries are commonly caused by:

Oxygen deprivation which can occur when the umbilical cord is compressed or twisted in the birth process, when the fetus remains in the birth canal for too long without appropriate intervention, or when the unborn fetus chokes on its own meconium.

Mechanical trauma when the unborn fetus has assumed an unusual position at the time of delivery or when the baby is too large to readily pass through the birth canal.

• Excessive force or improper rotational force during the delivery process.
• Excessive or improper use of vacuum extraction and or forceps.
• Delaying the performing of a cesarean section delivery during fetal distress.
• Failure of a midwife to seek the assistance of an obstetrician.

Improper intubation of a newborn requiring oxygen which results in an insufficient amount of oxygen reaching body tissue.

Unfortunately, children with birth injury conditions may never be capable of caring for themselves and the cost of providing for their security and procuring the best possible quality of life for them can be staggering. Additionally, the experience of caring for a child with a birth injury can be extremely stressful and emotional.

Not every birth defect is the result of negligence. Sometimes serious problems arise even where the doctor and other health care providers have done everything reasonably possible to prevent them. It is difficult for parents to make this determination, especially when overwhelmed by the injury to their newborn. If your child suffers from a birth injury that you believe may have been caused by the negligence of a health care provider, you should contact the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at KMH.