Five Signs You May Have a Medical Malpractice Case

If you suffer an injury after being treated by a healthcare provider, how do you know whether you have a medical malpractice case in Pennsylvania? Here are five signs you may have one.

1. YOUR DOCTOR’S ADMISSION

While it’s rare, healthcare providers do sometimes admit to having made a mistake in the treatment of their patients. If your doctor or other medical provider apologizes for their actions or omissions – or otherwise admits to having erred in their treatment of you — that’s an obvious sign that you may have a medical malpractice case.

2. YOUR DOCTOR’S OBSERVATION THAT ANOTHER DOCTOR ERRED

More common than your doctor admitting an error in their treatment of you is when your doctor notices that a different doctor who treated you made a mistake. In other words, your current doctor is looking at your medical records and notices that a different doctor erred. For instance, your primary care doctor could see that your cardiologist ignored the warning signs of your heart attack. If your doctor thinks that a different doctor made a mistake in treating you, you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer in Philadelphia to discuss whether you have a medical malpractice case.

3. UNEXPECTED OUTCOME FROM A PROCEDURE

While there are some risks to procedures and surgeries, often the first sign of a potential medical malpractice case is that there was an unanticipated outcome. For instance, let’s say you went to your doctor for a routine stent placement. The stent is intended to open up one of your arteries that was blocked. But when the doctor was inserting the stent, they punctured the artery, which caused internal bleeding or “hemorrhaging.” This hemorrhaging episode was an unexpected outcome of the stent procedure. If you suffer an injury that is not a normal risk to a procedure, you should contact a Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyer to discuss the possibility of a medical malpractice case.

4. DELAYED DIAGNOSIS

There are many medical conditions that require prompt intervention by healthcare professionals. If you do not receive that prompt intervention, you could suffer catastrophic consequences. For example, a stroke is when blood supply to the brain is interrupted or reduced. This is an urgent medical issue and requires a timely diagnosis. When the healthcare professional recognizes the signs of stroke and acts quickly, they can help restore blood flow to the brain. Failure to do so will lead to oxygen and nutrient deprivation in the brain, which can lead to brain damage, disability, and even death. If a healthcare professional delays diagnosis of stroke and/or fails to act urgently, thereby delaying or withholding lifesaving treatment and disability-preventing treatment, you may have a medical malpractice case.

5. MISDIAGNOSIS

Healthcare providers often misdiagnose patients, which could lead to serious injury or death. Misdiagnoses can be based on ignorance of family history, race, or gender. For instance, a woman may present to an emergency room with nausea and stomach pain and the

emergency room team completely ignore the possibility that she may be suffering a heart attack. Because doctors only tend to know the signs of heart attack in men (weakness in the left arm, chest pain, etc.), they completely miss the different signs of heart attack in women. So, they’ll chalk up the stomach issues to menstrual cramps or indigestion; that error qualifies as a misdiagnosis. Misdiagnoses can be a sign that you may have a medical malpractice case.

Don’t ignore the signs of a medical malpractice case. To find out if you have one, contact the lawyers at VSCP LAW.