Did Your Doctor Miss Signs of Kidney Failure?

Signs of kidney failure may not develop until the failure becomes acute. When the signs do develop, you typically will become tired and lethargic, you may be weak or have a hard time breathing, and you may lose your appetite. When your kidneys fail, your body will not be able to properly regulate waste, and you may develop anemia or organ failure. You could even fall into a coma and die as a result of kidney failure. Kidney failure is, in some cases, treatable through a transplant or dialysis, and so it is essential that your doctor be able to recognize signs of kidney failure and properly diagnose you. However, what if your doctor misses these signs and symptoms and your kidney failure gets worse, leading to serious complications or even death?

When Kidney Failure Results from Medical Malpractice

If your doctor misses signs of kidney failure, especially obvious signs, it can be considered medical malpractice. To prove malpractice based on your doctor not properly diagnosing kidney failure, you will need to prove:

• That your doctor was negligent in not noticing the signs. Since early stage kidney failure is largely asymptomatic and since the symptoms may be symptoms of many different ailments, not every misdiagnosis is medical malpractice. To determine whether your doctor was negligent in not noticing the signs in your case, your doctors behavior will be compared to what a reasonable doctor would have done. If a reasonable doctor would have noticed the signs, recommended tests, or otherwise behaved differently then your doctor did, then your doctor may be found to have been negligent
• That your doctor's negligence directly led to some type of injury. If you would have been unable to treat the kidney failure even if your doctor had noticed the signs, or if your results would have been substantially the same and you didn't suffer any additional damage, pain or suffering as a result of your doctor's negligence, then there is no damages that the jury can award you and you won't be able to collect for the malpractice.

Generally, proving your case will require expert testimony. Witnesses will need to convince the court that a reasonable doctor would have noticed the signs of kidney failure and, that when that reasonable doctor did, you'd have been able to be treated and/or have had a better outcome than you ended up with.

Getting Help

To prove medical negligence based on your doctor missing signs of kidney failure, you should consult with a qualified lawyer. Your lawyer can assist you in collecting evidence you need to prove your case and in finding expert witnesses to testify on your behalf.