Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Louisiana

Last year I was treated by my general practitioner for anxiety. The doctor gave me a beta blocker called inderal. Inderal is usally used to treat things like high blood pressure. I have never had any other medical problems other than the anxiety and depression. Days after being given the medication my blood pressure was really high to the point of having to go to the emergency room. After going to the emergency room I made an appointment with the same doctor who prescribed me the meds. They did a few tests and referred me to a cardiologist to make sure it was anxiety and not a heart issue. The cardiologist put a halter moniter on me to moniter my heart for 24 hours. The results of the test showed that I have something called Sixk Sinus syndrome. They stated to stop taking the beta blocker IMMEDIATELY! The cardiologist told me that the medication caused the heart issue. He said that hopefully when the meds are out of my system the heart issue would go away. Recently I had another issue that caused me to go to the emergency room. Again I made an appointment with the cardiologist who made me wear the halter monitor. After checking the results, the results were the same as last time. It was sick sinus syndrome and I would have to have a pace maker put in me to fix the problem. I have 2 questions. The first is do I have a medical malpractice case? The next is will the statue of limitations stop me from filing my claim being that the first time I went to the doctor was more than a year ago.


Asked on 7/11/12, 5:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nick Pizzolatto, Jr. Pizzolatto Law Office

I do not know if you have a med-mal claim. You have to have a doctor testify under oath that the medication caused permanent heart damage........that seems unlikely, but who knows. You have 1 year from "the time you discover the malpractice" to file your claim. However, if 3 years has passed since you discovered, or should have discovered the malpractive, then the claim is preempted. So, if it is less than 1 year AND less than 3 years since when you discovered the malpractice, then your claim is still alive. The HUGE question is........WAS THERE MALPRACTICE? I assume you are talking about the medication and not the doctor......but no matter. Was it malpractive?

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Answered on 7/11/12, 3:53 pm


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