Heart Failure & Filing A Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Health problems can be scary when the heart is involved. If heart problems are not detected soon enough, they can become worse to the extent that the doctors are not able to do much to turn the condition around. Most people rely on doctors to let them know if their heart is in bad shape, such as if they are suffering from heart disease. Unfortunately, sometimes doctors misdiagnose such problems and treat patients for the wrong condition, which can lead to heart failure. If you are suffering from heart failure due to being misdiagnosed by your physician, you might be able to be compensated for medical malpractice with a lawyer's help.

How You Were Misdiagnosed

Confirming that you were misdiagnosed by your physician and that it led to heart failure can be difficult to do on your own. However, a lawyer with experience is able to pinpoint how you were misdiagnosed before pursuing a lawsuit against your physician. For example, he or she will want to know what your symptoms were before the condition progressed and how your physician went about treating you. You might be asked if there was any swelling in your legs, shortness of breath, and other symptoms present that your physician simply brushed off as being nothing of concern. You will also be asked about which drugs you were prescribed, if any.

Investigating & Gathering Evidence

Performing an investigation is necessary when filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, as it can give a lawyer insight into how a physician handles patients. A lawyer can find out if your physician has ever misdiagnosed any of their other patients in the past. Along with investigating, your lawyer will want to obtain solid evidence of your health condition during the time in which you were being treated by your physician, which means you will have to sign a medical release form. A lawyer can keep your medical records as evidence to show that you were being treated for something different than what you are suffering from and that this potentially led to the development of your heart disease.

Examinations by Expert Doctors

As a part of building your legal case, a lawyer might want you to get an examination by an expert doctor, or even two of them. The purpose of the examinations is to get other opinions about your condition to prove that you would likely not have developed heart disease if you weren't misdiagnosed. It is possible that the expert doctors will be asked to testify if the case goes to court.

For more information, reach out to a medical malpractice lawyer in your area.