severe cough

a friend, 48year old female, whom was in excellant physical condition developed a cough. the cough became so severe she was admitted to the hospital. she was given the usual breathing treatments as if she had copd although that was not a part of her medical history. she remained in this hospital for 7 days and the cough got no better. she was transferred to different hospital and was immediately checked for blood clots. not being a physician I have no idea what the corelation is. anyway, a type of unmbrella filter was inserted in her groin and she was given blood thinners. after 2 days the cough cleared up and whe was discharged on the 3rd day. she was told she developed adult asthma and would have to be treated as such.
she states the conventional asthmsa meds(singular, albuterol, and the "vents") simply do not work. this is my question. again, this person was in excellant physical condition before the coughing began. is is possible to actually damage lungs by severe and prolonged coughing? is her coughing episode(10days)a precursor to adult asthma?

[ALawyer]

This is a medical not a legal question.....

[ellencee]

dadrummer
sounds like your friend had a blood clot in her lung, which was making her cough--probably a very small one. I base this on the treatment given at the hospital.
and, if you're asking is this a case of malpractice--don't think so. vrzirn, a physician, will most likely review this and let you know if a different opinion is indicated.

thanks for your reply. i think she is concerned about the asthma diagnosis then a lawsuit. since she is being treated for asthma could she be best treated for another condition, maybe the one that caused the blood clot. again, can that type of severe cough cause damage to the lungs? thanks

[ellencee]

dadrummer
why, sure, coughing severely hard could possibly cause 'damage' to the lungs, but not chronic damage and I've not heard of it causing asthma, ever. The treatment she received was to stop clots from being 'thrown' into vital organs. Coughing as you described can be the first symptom of a small clot, naturally larger clots cause larger symptoms.
You say that she was in excellent physical condition, (and I am not being antagonistic here) but she was only outwardly in excellent physical condition. Internally, she had an abnormal process going on, which led to the couging.
Without reading all of her medical files, I certainly can't give you specific answers to specific cause and effect. I can tell you that adult asthma may have been the underlying cause, not vice versa (with adult asthma being the result). I don't know if she smoked, or drank, or lived in a highly polluted area, or recently took up some strenuous activity, etc.
So, if you really think she should pursue finding out what happened, have her and possibly one other person, sit down with her primary physician and have him, or her, go through the hospital records and explain and discuss this whole episode with her. Naturally, she will want those records to have already been sent to her primary physician for review.

ellencee,
thanks so much for your response. what you stated certainly makes sense. i'll pass your advice on to her.
again, thank you

i realize i initially posted this to the wrong site, i should have posted to a medical site. but, having said that, could the failure of the first hospital to perform the test (ultrasound??)have legal (civil) ramifications? according to ellencee a small blood clot would be one of the first things to cause this type cough. that is something the first hospital did not check for. when she was transferred to the second hospital that test was performed within 2 hours of her admission. a clot was found and a filter was inserted. the cough ceased and she was discharged 2 days later. i realize everything is relative to damage caused. i dont know. ...is adult asthma a condition that developes over a period of time, or can it strike suddenly? if it can develop suddenly ,damages would probably be very hard to prove. but, if it takes a substantial period of time to develop then it may be possible the difficulty she is now experiencing, 2 years hence, is not adult asthma but damage done to her lungs from the severe coughing she experienced the 7 days she was in the first hospital. she went from being a jogger to practically homebound in a period of 2 weeks. can adult asthma strike that quickly? also, another reason i wonder about the asthma is because the conventional asthma medications seem to have very little effect, if any. thanks for your advice. (note: i just returned from a asthma web page and it stated a asthma cough produces sputum. i distinctly remember the first doctor repeatedly asking her if she was able to cough anything up, which she never did)