Was Your Heart Attack Misdiagnosed?
When a medical professional fails to diagnose a heart attack, it delays the patient from receiving potential life-saving treatment.
Heart attack misdiagnosis makes up thousands of medical malpractice cases each year. When a medical professional fails to diagnose a heart attack, it delays the patient from receiving potential life-saving treatment. If you think that you or a loved one suffered injuries as a result of a physician’s heart attack misdiagnosis, contact the attorneys at The Law Offices of Cardaro & Peek, LLC today.
Symptoms of a Heart Attack
There are a variety of symptoms one might experience, but common signs of a heart attack include:
- Pain in the chest, shoulder, arm, back, neck, and/or jaw
- Fatigue
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Rapid pulse
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating, especially cold sweats
- Nausea
Unfortunately, studies have shown that female patients face a particularly high risk of having a heart attack misdiagnosed due to the atypical symptoms that women often present. Such symptoms include:
- Trouble sleeping
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain that doesn’t radiate
- Heaviness in your arms
- Burning sensation below your ribs (upper abdomen)
- Feeling flushed
Age also plays a factor, as medical professionals often do not suspect a heart attack in younger patients.
How Heart Attacks Can Go Undiagnosed
Medical professionals, especially emergency physicians, should be trained to recognize symptoms of a heart attack and treat your presented condition seriously. However, a doctor may interpret your symptoms as signs of something other than a heart attack. Common conditions such as indigestion, having musculoskeletal problems, or even having emotional issues that cause physical symptoms (e.g. anxiety attack) may be mistaken for the cause of your symptoms instead of a heart attack.
Heart attacks may require immediate intervention to save a patient’s life. Doctors who opt to wait and monitor the progression of symptoms can end up waiting too long. By then the heart attack may have done irreversible damage, when immediate action would have prevented a patient’s death.
If a patient recovers from a minor heart attack, but their condition remains undiagnosed, that poses a serious risk to their health as well. Discharging a patient without identifying that they suffered a heart attack means they are more likely to suffer health complications in the future, as a major injury was allowed to go untreated and no steps were taken to prevent future injury.
Contact The Law Offices of Cardaro & Peek, LLC Today
Do you believe that you or your loved one has suffered as a result of medical malpractice or medical neglect? You need to talk to an experienced team of local lawyers today.
The lawyers at Cardaro & Peek, LLC have the experience and resources necessary to investigate and litigate all types of medical claims throughout Maryland and Washington D.C. Cardaro & Peek, LLC has medical personnel on staff and has access to nationally recognized, board-certified physicians and other experts, to assist in the investigation, analysis, and prosecution of all types of medical malpractice claims. If you or a loved one have experienced malpractice, give us a call at 410-752-6166. Please visit our website www.cardarolaw.com and follow us on Facebook , Twitter , and LinkedIn for more information.
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