Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, with one person dying every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When someone is having a heart attack, prompt treatment can save lives. Unfortunately, not every patient gets the treatment they need. Heart attacks can be misdiagnosed, leaving patients at serious risk of death or lasting damage.
If you or someone you love experiences a missed heart attack in the ER, Gill Ports Hoste LLC is here to help. We can work with you to determine if the misdiagnosis rises to the level of medical malpractice and, if so, can help you to pursue a claim for compensation from the care provider who let you down.
To find out more about how a heart attack misdiagnosis lawyer in Chicago can help you, give us a call or contact us online today.
How does a heart attack misdiagnosis happen?
Heart attacks can be misdiagnosed for many reasons. Some of the most common situations where medical care providers incorrectly diagnose a heart attack include:
- Atypical symptoms: The classic heart attack symptoms of chest pressure, pain in the chest and arms, and a squeezing feeling are not always the way that heart attacks present. Doctors are more likely to misdiagnose a heart attack when a patient presents with atypical symptoms like nausea, jaw pain, fatigue, or back or stomach pain.
- Bias: Women and younger patients are more likely to be misdiagnosed as they don’t fit the stereotypical profile of a heart attack patient.
- Confusing a heart attack for other conditions: Doctors may confuse a heart attack for anxiety, panic attacks, acid reflux, muscle pain, or an embolism.
- Misinterpreting diagnostic tests: If doctors don’t interpret troponin levels or EKG results correctly, they may miss obvious signs of a heart attack.
- Pre-existing conditions: A patient who has diabetes or other pre-existing conditions may experience less pain when a heart attack happens, making misdiagnosis more likely.
- Overlooking risk factors: A doctor who fails to consider a patient’s medical or family history is more likely to miss a heart attack.
- Systemic failures: When there is a breakdown of communication among staff members, or ER staff fails to respond appropriately to heart attack symptoms, this can result in a missed or delayed diagnosis.
These are just some of the many things that can go wrong and result in an emergency room error case or other medical care provider failing to correctly diagnose a heart attack.
What are the consequences of a misdiagnosed heart attack?
When a heart attack is not diagnosed promptly, you miss the opportunity to provide treatment that could restore blood flow and minimize the interruption of blood flow to the heart. The tissue begins to die as soon as blood flow to the heart is blocked, but swift action can stop this process and reduce the risk of death.
Some of the specific consequences of delayed treatment can include:
- Death: If symptoms aren’t promptly addressed and there’s a prolonged loss of blood flow to the heart, death is a likely outcome.
- Arrhythmias: Irregular heartbeat can occur as a result of a delayed treatment.
- Cardiogenic shock: This is a life-threatening medical condition that results in the heart not being able to pump enough blood to meet your body’s needs.
- Permanent damage to the heart: Muscle death can occur without blood flow, and patients can develop scarring. This can decrease heart function and lead to chronic heart failure.
- Long-term disability: Patients who get delayed treatment will experience more severe long-term physical limitations and are more likely to experience chronic pain.
- Increased risk of future heart attack: You are more likely to have subsequent heart attacks after the first one if your treatment is delayed. Each heart attack can do more damage to the heart and result in higher readmission rates to the hospital.
Prompt treatment is so important that research has shown every moment without treatment for a heart attack reduces the odds of survival by 7% to 10%.
Is heart attack misdiagnosis medical malpractice?
In many situations, when an ER doctor misses your heart attack, this can be considered a form of medical malpractice.
ER doctors, like all medical care providers, are expected to provide a professional level of care. If they fall short of the accepted care standard, this can be considered medical negligence. A doctor who is negligent and who harms you because of it can be held liable for medical malpractice.
You will need to prove that the ER doctor’s failures are medical malpractice and that you were harmed because of the errors made. Specifically, you must prove:
- The ER doctor owed you a duty of care. When you visit the ER and see a doctor, that doctor has a duty to you to provide a reasonably competent level of medical care.
- The ER doctor breached the duty of care. This means that the doctor failed to live up to their obligations. You can prove this by showing no reasonable doctor would have made the same mistakes resulting in the misdiagnosis of your heart attack.
- The breach was the direct cause of harm. Your doctor may try to argue that you would have had the same outcome from the heart attack even with prompt care. You have to specifically show that the delayed diagnosis, rather than the underlying condition, was the reason you sustained more serious damage.
- You suffered loss because of the harm. You must demonstrate actual losses, such as higher medical bills, loss of more income or earning power, pain and suffering and emotional distress that would not have occurred because of the diagnostic failure.
Contact a Chicago heart attack misdiagnosis lawyer today
Gill Ports Hoste LLC can help you to prove your medical malpractice claim in Chicago after a heart attack misdiagnosis. Attorneys on our team have dedicated their careers to fighting for victims, including those harmed by negligent doctors. We’ve recovered millions and have decades of collective experience we can put to work for you.
Give us a call or contact us online to schedule your free consultation with a heart attack misdiagnosis lawyer in Chicago to learn about your options after a provider you trusted failed to diagnose your life-threatening medical condition.