Family awarded $1.7 million in medical malpractice case

Last week a family was awarded $1.7 million in a medical malpractice case. The lawsuit itself stemmed from the 2005 death of a 42-year-old who had chest pains misdiagnosed as a torn muscle.

According to the medical malpractice lawsuit, the woman’s husband went to the doctor complaining of chest pain in 2004. At the time, that doctor said that the pain was from a torn muscle, and never even referred the man to a heart specialist to double check the condition.

The lawsuit claims that if the father of four children had been taken to a specialist, it would have been determined sooner that the pain in his chest was actually from a leaky heart valve. But, since the doctor failed to diagnosis the man in a timely matter, he did not receive a replacement valve in time and ended up dying at the age of 42.

In this case the lawsuit was against both the doctor who failed to properly diagnose the man, and also the clinic that he still currently works out.

When looking at medical malpractice, delayed diagnosis and a misdiagnosis are common occurrences that can have a serious impact not only on a patient who is in pain, but also their entire family. In New York medical malpractice cases involving failure to diagnose, it is up to either the family of the deceased – or the patient who was misdiagnosed – to prove that the outcome of their medical condition would have been different – both pain wise and also financially – if he or she had been properly treated in the beginning.

Source: Missoulian, “Billings family wins $1.7M medical malpractice lawsuit,” 22 Feb 2011