past statute of limitations

What is the name of your state? CA

I have always believed my father's death was in part due to malpractice. He was on a medically supervised fast for weightloss and died of a heart attack while on the diet. He was seeing these medical doctors as well as his primary physician as well as some doctors in a hospital because 9 months before he died he fell and hit his head. He kept having fainting spells while on this med fast. I am wondering with three different medical doctors why it was not detected that my father was suffering from atheriosclerosis (which is what he ultimately died of.) Everything else about him was completely healthy. I am not only interested in knowing if this would be a case of malpractice and if so my second question is since it has been more than a year, it has been 6 years now could I still file a lawsuit. I heard there is some sort of discovery clause that could extend this statute of limitations. I am sorry if my question is confusing. If it is I will rewrite it.

You may have lost the case because oif the statute. But what you have said does point to a malpractice case. First, atherosclerotic disease is a long term illness and is not often directly a cause of death. Your assumption that the diet had something to do with your father's death is probably right. The additional insult of the fall and head injury might have attributed to his death and would likely have complicated his atherosclerosis. But his death did seem to be related more to the diet than anything else and will always haunt you. See a lawyer. In California the statute has been beaten in many malpractice cases, and although I suspect you have lost your chance to sue, it is worth a shot. See a lawyer and find out what he thinks.

Hi Hockeycrazy. Six years is a long time to have lapsed, but it's worth your calling around to some malpractice law firms to see if they can help. I wish you'd clarify something, though -- when you say your dad was on a "medically supervised" diet (this "fasting" diet), certainly he wasn't referred to this diet place by a primary or a specialist, was he? What kind of "doctors" (if any) were supervising your dad's diet? I'm assuming your dad died of a heart attack and that it was the autopsy that confirmed the presence of ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease). How old was your dad? Smoker? Overweight? Usually a doctor checks the carotid arteries when someone is complaining of passing out. The carotids are those arteries located in your neck that a doctor sometimes listens to with a stethoscope. He can usually tell if they're clogged up. What was your dad's passing out spells ever attributed to? Was it treated with any kind of medication that you know of? Thanks (if you care to elaborate).



hmmbrdzz

My father was 56 years old. He was an athlete/attorney. He played hockey. At times in his life he became sedentary and work a lot. You could say he was a workaholic. Anyway he gained a lot of weight. I believe he was weighing in at around 210. Quite heavy for him. I know his primary physician knew he was going through this medifast, now wether he referred him to the program I am not sure. The fast was for dietary purposes. My father was concerned about his weight and how it affected his health. Pretty normal and pretty precautionary. It took him many months I am not exactly sure how many but during the time he was on the diet he fainted a couple of times and firetrucks and ambulances were sent out. My father was playing hockey, trying to get some excercise which is standard for those who are on a diet. One day nine months before he died we were both playing hockey and we were doing simple drills. My father was an extremely skilled player. He was in front of me showing me how to do hockey stops when he fell forward and hit his head. He suffered a major conconsion. He was hospitalized overnight at UCDmed Center. My mother and I brought it to the doctors attention that he was on a diet and that we were concerned that he may not have tripped but instead fainted as he had done a couple of times previously. 9 months later my dad had lost all the weight he was playing hockey on a regular basis for excercise. He started to gain a few pounds back and did not want his weight to bounce back up for they say going up and down is not good either so he went back on the diet for a week or two. During this time he was at a game. He made the difference for the game winning. He was skating off from the third period. Before he was off the ice he fell. There was a paramedic in the stands and he gave my father immediate attention but I guess the heartattack he had was so strong he died. The autopsy stated he was healthy from head to toe (not in those exact words but they went through his whole body) but he had plaque in his arteries and the autopsy said half his heart was dead due to no blood flow due to the arteries having arteriosclerosis. That is how I understand it. My father was not a smoker. Never did drugs. He was an outstanding attorney in his field. He did mechanics liens for construction workers. You would think being the daughter of an attorney that I would have had sense to file sooner. I wanted to but I was in such a depressed state I could not. I suffer from Manic Depression myself and I was told by my support system that I needed to just let it go. I guess the reason I am bringing it up now is I have tried to let it go and I realize I suffer greatly due the loss. My father was an incredibly good man and I really have felt the impact of the loss over the last six years. I just discovered this advice line and it made me think about the subject. I never knew who to get advice from before and where I did go I was discouraged from taking legal action.

That was very interesting. Your dad sounded like a fine person, and he was definitely young when he died. I enjoyed your story, and I'm sorry for your great loss.

I can see both sides here. i.e. your support systems telling you to "let it go", and I can see your side of not being able to and feeling an even greater loss and/or depression because of that, or because of the lack of closure you feel (or however you want to term what it is you feel on account of this occurrence). I would not want to discourage you on account of your manic depression. If I discouraged you, it would be on account of feeling your case had no merit, and I certainly cannot judge that from here. It would clearly take an attorney to talk to you about the merits or lack of merits, but I think you would be better off in all directions if you see it out -- even six years after the fact, and even if you're ultimately told by several attorneys that they can't help you.

Talk about a small world. I'm an RN; used to be a psych nurse, (and then I was a psych patient. ) I went through a similar situation as yours beginning in 1995 (mine didn't involve losing a loved one, but it did involve a lawsuit my attorneys had filed on my behalf that I ultimately "dismissed" in 1999 against their advice when I just couldn't take it anymore). I had been told by another set of attorneys that if I dismissed it pro se without prejudice I could "refile" it at a later date. So, I dismissed it, and I went into a black hole (depression), and before I knew it, two years had passed, and I was still sitting here brewing over it. Then one day I stumbled upon this place (kind of like you did).
I guess I'm still searching for that almighty answer, and I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is going to be a tough row for you to hoe probably no matter what you do. I think it will be a tougher row, though, if you don't talk to some attorneys.

Again, I enjoyed that story you shared. Your dad having been the difference in a win or loss during the hockey game he suffered a fatal heart attack -- well, I kind of see a message in there, and he was a winner. You're his daughter.

Best of luck to you.


hmmbrdzz