Failure to Diagnose Heart Attack

A heart attack occurs when blood flow to part of the heart becomes blocked so that part of the heart starts to die. The most significant symptom of a heart attack is chest discomfort or pain that either lasts longer than a few minutes or goes away and returns. However, other signs of a heart attack include a cold sweat, discomfort in other areas of the body, nausea, lightheadedness, and shortness of breath. People who are over the age of 60, are overweight, or have diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol face an elevated risk of a heart attack. If you suffer harm or a loved one dies because of a failure to diagnose a heart attack, the experienced Ocala medical malpractice attorneys at the Dean Law Firm may be able to help you recover damages.

A failure to diagnose a heart attack may have devastating consequences. Sometimes overworked doctors do not listen carefully to a patient's complaint or make a mistake in their evaluation of what is happening.

In order to establish medical malpractice, a plaintiff must prove that their doctor failed to act in accordance with the accepted standards of the medical community, and because of this failure, they suffered injuries. Often, a doctor's failure to act in accordance with accepted standards occurs during differential diagnosis. This is a process by which a doctor lists various potential diagnoses and rules them out by testing them. Younger patients are overly represented in cardiology misdiagnosis cases because most doctors assume that middle-aged and older individuals are at far greater risk.

When trying to prove that a failure to diagnose was medical malpractice, we will need to retain an experienced expert to review your records and claim. An expert's testimony may make or break a medical malpractice lawsuit.

In Florida, someone may not provide expert testimony about the prevailing professional standard of care unless they are a health care provider who holds an active, valid license and has conducted a review of the medical records at issue. The expert is supposed to specialize in the same specialty as the defendant health care provider and must have devoted professional time in the three years immediately before the date of the action that gave rise to the medical malpractice claim to active clinical practice, student instruction, or a clinical research program affiliated with an accredited professional school.

Doctors who are qualified and know the applicable standard of care for nurses, physician assistants, and other medical support staff may also give expert testimony in a medical negligence lawsuit regarding the standard of care of the medical support staff.

At the Dean Law Firm, we provide legal representation to patients who have been injured due to a doctor's failure to diagnose a heart attack. Our lawyers also handle wrongful death claims on behalf of families who have lost a loved one because of a health care provider’s negligence. Call us at 352-387-8700 or contact us via our online form to set up a free appointment. We represent medical malpractice victims and other people who need an injury attorney in Ocala, Crystal River, The Villages, and other areas of Marion, Sumter, Lake, Citrus, and Levy Counties.