Heart disease is a broad term often used to describe conditions such as coronary artery disease, congenital heart failure (a heart defect you are born with), heart arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeat) and other serious heart related conditions. Complications that involve the heart are very dangerous, especially if they are not diagnosed correctly. If a patient is concerned about heart disease or has any of the possible symptoms related with heart disease, then it is the medical practitioner’s duty to perform the proper tests needed to diagnose the condition. If the physician fails to diagnose heart disease due to negligence, then he/she can be held liable for the injury that is caused to the patient.
Symptoms and Diagnosis of Heart Disease
Since there are several different heart related conditions that fall under the heading of heart disease it is hard to label the symptoms as a whole, but certain symptoms warrant immediate consultation with an experienced physician. These symptoms are:
- Pain in the chest area
- Fainting
- Shortness of breath
Other symptoms are more specific to each type of heart disease and include things like dizziness, loss of energy, swelling in feet, ankles, and hands, fluttering in heartbeat, fatigue and others complications. If you have experienced any of the above symptoms and you do not feel that your doctor is taking the necessary precautions to determine whether you have heart disease, you should get a second opinion immediately.
Duty to Standard of Care
It is the practitioner’s duty, as someone who works in the medical field, to provide a certain standard of patient care and any actions that do not uphold that standard can be considered negligence. Medical malpractice can be committed if the physician does not conduct tests that any other reasonable physician would have done in the same situation so that a correct diagnosis can be made. It is the physician’s duty to read test results correctly and to inform the patient if there is a possible diagnosis of heart disease.
Establishing Negligence of Medical Professionals
In the event that the physician’s negligence causes injury because the diagnosis of heart disease is not made, the physician can be charged with medical malpractice. When a physician negligently does not diagnose heart disease and the patient is injured either through a stroke, heart attack or through other heart related injury, a medical malpractice claim should be filed.
Getting Legal Help
Knowing when and how to file on a case of medical malpractice is very important in recouping on damages and an attorney can help you make those crucial decisions. The attorney will also be able to represent your malpractice claim and see that justice is served.
