Failure to Diagnose a Heart Attack: A Case of Florida Medical Malpractice

Although doctors treat tens of thousands of heart attacks each year, they can still neglect to diagnose them correctly.  When this failure to diagnose a heart attack occurs, your heart could be severely damaged and your life threatened.

People whose health and well being have been jeopardized by a doctor’s failure to diagnose a heart attack should talk with an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney about filing a claim.  A good attorney can help you receive just compensation for your suffering and hold the doctor accountable for his negligence.

Recognizing Symptoms to Avoid Failing to Diagnose a Heart Attack

The symptoms of a heart attack are similar to those for other medical problems, but there are warning signs that should not be ignored.  These include:

  • Chest pain or discomfort in your upper body, including your arms, wrists, shoulders, neck, jaw, back, or abdomen
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • Rapid or erratic heartbeats
  • Nausea, dizziness, cold sweats
  • Weakness and fatigue
  • Unexplainable anxiety or sense of doom

Close to 1/3 of all heart attack patients don’t experience any chest pain and are therefore, at an increased risk of not being diagnosed correctly.  However, the truth of the matter is that common tests can be administered for a quick, accurate diagnosis that can prevent further life-threatening damage to your heart.

Administering Tests to Diagnose a Heart Attack

Treating a heart attack as quickly as possible can limit damage to the heart muscle and prevent death.  Therefore, emergency room doctors should take all symptoms seriously and immediately order the correct tests.

With today’s modern technology, heart patients should not suffer injury to their hearts due to failure to diagnose a heart attack.  Blood tests, electrocardiograms (EKG), cardiac scans, and coronary angiography can determine whether you are having a heart attack. In many cases, tests like an EKG can be administered on route to the emergency room, so treatment can begin immediately.

Prompt Treatment to Prevent or Minimize Damage from a Heart Attack

It is well known that treating a heart attack quickly can prevent or minimize serious damage to your heart.  That’s why hospitals have been striving to decrease the time it takes to diagnose a heart attack and begin treatment. Clot-busting medication to dissolve blood clots and angioplasty to open blocked or severely narrowed heart arteries can prevent serious heart damage if administered early during a heart attack.

Full recovery is indeed possible, if you are given prompt, proper treatment.  In contrast, if treatment is delayed or not given due to doctors not diagnosing your heart attack, then you could suffer irreparable damage and suffering.   In too many cases, people’s lives could have been saved if a doctor had diagnosed their heart attack correctly in the first place.

Florida Medical Malpractice in the Case of Failure to Diagnose a Heart Attack

Despite advances in diagnostic technologies, treatments, and procedures for promptly diagnosing and treating a heart attack, people suffering from heart attacks are still mistakenly discharged from emergency rooms.  In this day and age, these misdiagnoses, as well as unnecessary delays in diagnosis and treatment, are unacceptable.

You should be able to count on doctors to recognize the signs of a potential heart attack, immediately order the appropriate tests, and begin life-saving treatment.  If this isn’t the case, and you or a family member suffered serious damage or death due to a doctor’s negligence, you may have a Florida medical malpractice case.

A Florida medical malpractice case related to failure to diagnose a heart attack can be complicated.  However, with the help of experienced Florida medical malpractice attorneys who care about your personal well-being and will fight aggressively for you,  you can hold negligent health care providers accountable and get just compensation for your suffering.

Get Help from Experienced Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys Who Care about You

If you or a family member has suffered from injury or death due to failure to diagnose a heart attack, contact the experienced Florida medical malpractice attorneys at Paul & Perkins at 888-818-1439 or online by clicking here.  We want to hear about what happnened and help you decide on the best course of action.