When New York doctors treat patients that come to them suffering unexplained pain, they have their work cut out in trying to determine a cause. Sometimes, it’s immediately apparent, and a doctor merely needs to check a few things to confirm his or her suspicions and make a confident diagnosis. If a doctor fails to properly diagnose a condition that other doctors claim should have been an easy diagnosis, and a patient suffers because of it, a medical malpractice incident may occur.
That’s what the family of a woman who died says happened in her situation. She had gone to the doctor for help when suffering severe pain throughout her left arm. Her doctor ordered a cardiac evaluation and also a catheterization test. For some unknown reason, however, he canceled the latter test and never rescheduled it.
The woman later died from a serious heart condition that other medical professionals attested would have been easy to diagnose had the doctor gone through with the needed catheterization test. The woman’s husband filed a lawsuit claiming his wife may still be alive if the doctor had done what he was supposed to do. The claim stated that a failure to diagnose the woman’s myocardial infarction caused a tragedy.
The case was recently settled, with the family of the woman receiving more than $3 million, some of which was placed into trust funds for her two children. In all medical malpractice claims, there are two possible scenarios: A judge will hand down a decision if the claim goes to trial, or a settlement will be offered and accepted. Sometimes, a settlement is offered but is not accepted, and a case still goes to trial. In fact, part of the counsel an experienced New York personal injury attorney can provide is advising clients whether a settlement offer is in their best interests.
Source: thetimes-tribune.com, “Scranton family receives $3.5 million in medical malpractice settlement“, David Singleton, Aug. 5, 2017
