Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in California
I went to the ER after experiencing blurred vision and partial facial paralysis and saw an ER doctor within an hour of experiencing those symptoms. The doctor who saw me told me that it was likely an atypical migraine and gave me the option of taking medication but warned me that "it could cause cancer or kill [me]." They gave me medication to treat my migraines and dehydration before sending me home.
Before leaving the ER, I became incredibly confused and incoherent. They ordered a CT scan but I am not sure if I ever received one. I have requested a copy of my records and will find out soon.
I became increasingly confused and fatigued. The next morning I woke up thinking that it was 2010 and was brought back to the ER. I was unable to respond or participate in an exam, and so, given my preexisting depression, was sent home and told to go to my regularly scheduled psychiatrist appointment in two days.
The next morning I was unresponsive and was taken back to the ER, where I was put under a 5150 hold. I was not given a CT scan but instead underwent several blood tests and a lumbar puncture. No discussion was made about the possibility of stroke, which had originally brought me into the ER.
I was admitted to the psych department at the end of that night. No other treatments or tests were administered until two days later (day 5 since the onset of symptoms), when I continued to be unable to respond to attempts at counseling and examinations. I was given an MRI, where they found that I had had THREE strokes, and was immediately rushed to the neurological unit.
My concern is that the initial stroke (which likely occurred that first day) was located in the cerebellum, which a CT scan might not have picked up at all.
Does this delay in diagnosis qualify for a malpractice given the trickiness of where the stroke was located?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Your records will be needed to determine if there was failure to correctly diagnose.
No one here can or will give you an opinion on whether malpractice occurred, and certainly not without a full review of the entire case, facts, records, etc on behalf of a retained client. Only a doctor in that same field of medicine can render an opinion, and only a doctor's opinion is relevant and admissible in any lawsuit. Yours and mine don't 'count', even though it does sound like a legitimate failure to properly diagnose. Bottom line, start by asking your treating physicians immediately, and offer to provide them all your records regarding the incident which they will need to review in order to render an opinion worth anything. If they won't cooperate, then you may need to employ an independent expert for that review and opinion. Generally they will only work for attorneys, so you will likely need to employ counsel now to process all this. If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, feel free to contact me. I�ll be happy to help fight and get the best outcome possible. I�ve been doing these cases for many years.
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