Deviations from the standard of care often involve the failure to recognize signs and symptoms of heart attack or stroke or significant delays either in obtaining the necessary tests or acting on abnormal results. Such delays can occur in an outpatient or inpatient setting, particularly in an emergency department with long delays before a patient actually sees a physician.
Heart attacks and strokes do not always present the same way, but each condition has a range of generally accepted signs, symptoms, and risk factors (both lifestyle and medical), and clear medical standards of care govern the diagnostic decision-tree and the interventions to be performed if the diagnosis is made. Medical malpractice cases arise in this context when health care providers fail to act in accordance with these standards of care, resulting in untimely diagnosis or treatment. The Philadelphia emergency room negligence lawyers at Youman & Caputo understand what to look for when an emergency medicine practitioner fails to accurately diagnose a serious medical emergency.
For example, women are more likely than men to have heart attack symptoms unrelated to chest pain, which sometimes leads physicians and “physician extenders” (like physician assistants) alike not to act with the necessary urgency. Occasionally, the delay can result from the simple but unfortunate human tendency (even in the medical profession) to “normalize the abnormal” – attributing concerning signs and symptoms to less serious conditions and failing to suspect a heart attack or stroke.