Doctors go through years of education — and, in exchange, usually receive large salaries once they begin practicing — to be able to recognize and treat health problems. Often, this medical training involves learning how to diagnose signs of impending illness in Massachusetts patients to prevent conditions from developing or worsening. How frightening, then, to imagine a scenario of medical negligence in which a trusted health professional might be too distracted or in too big of a hurry to prevent injury or save a life.
In another state, a malpractice lawsuit with just such allegations has been filed against a community medical center and the health care professionals who practice there. According to the claim, a woman suffered an avoidable cardiac event in 2016. Her husband believes that this cardiac arrest could have been prevented had it not been for the alleged medical negligence of three of the doctors at the hospital.
The lawsuit states that the patient went to the emergency room with complaints of vomiting, abdominal pain and frequent belching. Allegedly, the defendants — the three doctors who assessed the woman — attributed her pain to an allergy and discharged her after telling her to avoid aspirin. Later that same day, the woman returned due to shortness of breath and subsequently suffered a cardiac arrest while in the care of the hospital.
The lawsuit claims that both the heart attack and the resultant brain damage were foreseeable based upon the woman’s prior symptoms and the electrocardiogram report. Thus, the complaint alleges that the doctors were either recklessly indifferent to the reports, or their misinterpretation constitutes negligence. All of the medical professionals involved are accused of four separate counts of negligence, in addition to one count of loss of consortium; the suit seeks damages in excess of $50,000. Anyone in Massachusetts who has suffered similar injury due to doctor error or medical negligence has the same right to explore options for justice and compensation by conferring with a medical malpractice attorney.
Source: pennrecord.com, “Geisinger-Community Medical Center fighting med-mal case over 2016 cardiac arrest“, John Revak, Aug. 8, 2017
