Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Pennsylvania
My mother is in a coma
My mother suffered a right posterior ischemic stroke and was admitted to the hospital. She was awake, following commands,slurred speach and left sided hemiparesis. We were told they would not treat this stroke with anticoagulants becaused it was to risky. 24hrs after admission they ordered lovenox anyway. 36hrs after admission she she was unresponsive. Cat Scan of the head showed a hugh left posterior hemorrhage filling the entire ventricle. She has been in coma every since then . It has bee 7wks now. I believe the anticoagulant caused this. what can I do?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: My mother is in a coma
I am sorry to hear about your mother. We are never ready to lose mom or dad.
IF you feel there may have been a problem with your mother's treatment, I understand your wanting someone to look into it, but very often, you are looking at a bad outcome, not bad treatment. It could be that your mother was to a point that they figured her condition was so bad that the risk of using thinners was justified. Just because another doctor may disagree with that decision does not mean it is malpractice, but if you have concern, then you need to speak with an attorney, so you can find a competent doctor to review the file. I have a friend that has done this, and the first time he called me to tell me that there were decisions where he may have made different decisions, but it was not malpractice, what should he do? I said just be as blunt and honest as you can. No atty wants to sue a doc who was just doing his job. The client there was a drug rep he knew, who only wanted to hear that his 2 y.o. son wasn't killed by a quack. He was actually relieved it was not malpractice, and he thanked him profusely, so did the atty. What I'm saying is you need to find a good objective doc to review this for you. If it was a judgment call, I'd want to know, if it was just a bad outcome, I'd want to know, and if it was a bad doc, I'd want to try to keep him from hurting anyone else.
Good luck to you and your family.
Re: My mother is in a coma
Sorry for what you and mom are going through.
Anti-coagulation / thrombolytic therapy after stroke is a controversial area in medicine and law. I believe that with inquiry you may find an attorney who is interested in this kind of case.
If you are interested in pursuing a possible lawsuit, you should call attorneys ASAP to try to find one who is interested.
Even though there is a 2 year statute of limitations, these cases take time to evaluate, so you should call now.
Before you call, (don't delay too long) it may be useful to find out:
1) Did your mother have a CAT scan before the lovenox was started - what result?
2) How long after her symptoms did she reach the hospital?
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