Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Florida

While speaking with the doctor during the informed consent for open-heart surgery, he made mention that my stepfather could possibly suffer a stroke(which was the doctors biggest fear), heart attack or not make it through the procedure. We were aware of these possibilities and all gave consent to go thru with the surgery. My stepfather had open-heart surgery on August 24th to replace both aortic and mitral valves and do a coronary bypass. He made it thru the procedure okay along with having a thacheotomy done on Aug 29th. But then on Sept 1st,we were told that his liver and kidneys were failing. I also noticed that his feet were becoming discolored. At this point I really didnt pay much attention to it and figured it was nothing more than dirt. On Sept 2nd, I came back to visit him with my mother, and while I was there the surgeon had called in to speak with my mother in regards to my stepdad's feet. He told my mother that his feet had become infected with gangrene and they would have to amputate both of his legs. My mother gave the consent to do so the next day. While there I was speaking with a nurse who said that my stepdad had contracted Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thrombosis, and thats what caused the gangrene. We returned to the hospital on Sept 3rd while they were performing the amputation. Just prior to my stepfather being taken in for the procedure, the surgeon who performed the heart surgery came in and looked at us and stated "We should've thought about this" and walked away. Sept 4th my stepfather was doing okay, not vocal but was alert and responsive. We went back on Sept 5th and his alertness deteriorated dramatically. He was extremely lethargic and unresponsive to commands we returned hom that night with the expectations that we would go back on Sept 6th to visit him. We recieved a call roughly 5am on the 6th and we were informed by the nurse that my stepdads blood pressure had bottomed out and they were unable to stabilize it, he passed away at 5:22am. We did get medical records and also the lab test which did state he had HITT. Unfortunately we were unable to have an autopsy performed due to both my mom and stepdad were only collecting SSI and couldnt afford the 3000-4000 dollars that was being asked to have it performed. The death certificate stated "respiratory failure" and "valvular heart disease" as generic causes. From where we stand alot of this doesnt seem right and believe the HITT played a major role in his death. We are looking to bring a lawsuit against parties involved.

My questions are

1)Would this go MedMal or Wrongful death? Or both?

2)Should the doctor have made us aware of the adverse reaction to the heparin during the informed consent?

1 Answer from Attorneys

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