Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Ohio
Medical Misdiagnosis
I took my husband to an urgent care on 5/20/09 with severe stomach pain. After 2 hours of waiting to see a doctor the pain moved from his upper abdomen to his right side. I took out my cell phone went to webMD and found that these were classic symptoms for appendicitis. When the doctor came in that was the first thing he ruled out based solely on the fact that my husband had no fever. He ran him through several unnecessary tests only to come back to say that �he couldn�t rule anything out.� Two days later my husband was rushed into surgery to have his appendix removed. Is there any reason that we could file suit against the urgent care or the doctor that treated him?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Medical Misdiagnosis
Unless the delay in treatment caused more severe issues, the pain of a few more days of appendicitis is likely not to lead to a large award. Sounds like the doc missed the diagnosis, but in the end, it sounds like your husband is no worse for wear...he would have had to have the appendix surgery regardless, so that's not includable in your damage calculation. It might be worth a letter/demand to the doctor and his insurance carrier. They may settle short of filing suit, but I wouldn't spend a great deal of your money or time chasing after this b/c I don't see a large award coming your way as a result of the doctors malpractice.