Failure To Diagnose Heart Attack May Result In Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Cleveland, OH (Law Firm Newswire) April 14, 2011 – One of the hardest things to diagnose seems to be a heart attack. It often mimics other symptoms and misdiagnosis may lead to death.

“Every year there is one heart attack virtually every 34 seconds, which means hundreds of thousands of people are directly affected by this major event. Medicine these days is nothing short of miraculous, but if the diagnosis is wrong or missed and treated incorrectly, there may be a med mal lawsuit filed,” said Christopher Mellino. Mellino is a Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer of the Mellino Law Firm LLC, in Ohio.

Consider the case of the man rushed to the ER of his local hospital with chest pain, numbness in his upper body and difficulty breathing. Classic heart attacks signals? “Yes, you would think so, but in many cases, an ER is pandemonium in motion and the attending may not register all the overall symptoms and discharge the man or diagnose him with as having a pinched nerve and needing rest and physiotherapy. Therein lies the danger. If the diagnosis is missed when the time was critical, which is referred to as failure to diagnose, the man may suffer irreversible damage or die,” Mellino said.

If failure to diagnose does result in further damage, the patient has the option to file a med mal lawsuit in order to recover compensation for that damage; damage done as a result of the doctor’s negligence. But for the inappropriate treatment or no treatment suggested by the doctor, the patient may have survived with limited heart damage or his or her life may have been saved.

In cases such as this, the plaintiff needs to prove they went for medical treatment and that the doctor failed to correctly diagnose the condition until more, and possibly irreparable damage, was done. “In other words, if the physician was negligent and failed to diagnose properly, and that meant the patient suffered more harm, the patient may file a medical malpractice lawsuit,” Mellino said.

“If you have been in a situation like this, make your first call to an experience Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer. If you want justice, fair compensation, a voice in court and aggressive representation on your behalf, you need to have an experienced attorney in your corner. It won’t happen any other way,” Mellino said.

To learn more or to contact a Cleveland Medical Malpractice attorney or Cleveland malpractice attorney, visit http://www.christophermellino.com.

Mellino Law Firm LLC
200 Public Sq. Suite 2900
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Call: (216) 241-1901