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Is the hospital or cardiologist at fault?

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concerneddtr

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan

My dad an iatrogenic endocarditis about 12 years ago, and as a result had to have surgery to replace his aortic valve due to destruction of the valve tissue. This was in the summer of 1997, and in February of 1998 had the valve replaced with a St. Jude's mechanical bileaflet valve. At his follow up appointment, the surgeon told us that my dad also had two iliac aneurysms, one on each side. The surgeon wanted to do surgery on them right away, but I had read that another surgery so soon after the valve replacement was not recommended unless the aneurysms were of a certain size. I found him a new cardiovascular surgeon near Detroit who said that they were so small that they didn't need surgery, but needed to be monitored. After a few more years, one of the aneurysms began to leak slowly. A stent was tried, but didn't repair the leakage. Two procedures were done with the cardiac glue, but again it didn't stop the leak; however, the doctor said that the leakage was so minimal that he wasn't terribly concerned. Last November, the CV surgeon told my dad that he thought it was time to finally fix them instead of taking any more chances. My dad asked if they could revisit the issue at his March 2011 visit, and the doctor agreed, saying that my dad had to notify him if there were any problems at all.

On February 21, Michigan got 15 inches of snow. My dad went out to do the snowblowing (self propelled snow blower) and to get the snow off the roof of the camper with a broom. I was talking to my mom on the phone when my dad came back in the house laughing, and said that he had misstepped coming off the ladder and missed three steps. Said that he didn't fall and hurt himself because there was so much snow, and was just afraid that the neighbors had seen him. On Feb. 22, she called me and left a message that Dad had been taken to one hospital and was being transferred to the larger hospital in Lansing, Mich. Dad had started complaining of sharp, tearing pains in his shoulders, shoulder blades, and neck on Monday night, but didn't want to go to ER. He said it was just from working outside. He also had what he said was bad heartburn. On Tuesday, he went to his primary care doctor. While there, he began vomiting and was in a lot of pain. The doctor said he was dehydrated and needed fluids, but another doctor in the office told the nurse to call 911 immediately. He was taken to a local just a couple of blocks from the office. The did ECGs, IV fluids, gave him nitroglycerin, did chest xrays, and because they found nothing, sent him on to the larger campus in the city. There he was given an CT scan, some blood work, and the blood work for cardiac enzymes. His BP was dropping to 80/40 then spiking back up, but because there was no differential between the right and left peripheral pulses, the doctor again wasn't worried. A heart attack was ruled out, but they kept him overnight for observation. He told them about the iliac aneurysms and the heart valve, both of which were also in his records, but they kept telling him and my mother that neither of those had any bearing on what was going on. He couldn't sleep or lay down because of the pain and the "heartburn", so they gave him a lazy boy to sit up in. In the morning, the cardiologist came in and told him that they had decided not to do the cardiac catheterization or the doppler scan that had been ordered, that nothing was wrong with him but some sore muscles. He was released with no instructions other than to take Motrin for the pain. He got home from the hospital at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Feb 23. I talked with him on the phone Wednesday night, and asked him if he had been given pain meds because he sounded drugged and slurry. He said that he was only told to take Motrin, and that he was very tired and wanted to just eat dinner and go to bed. Mom told me (after) that he had acted strange all night, not quite himself, still saying that it hurt, that the heartburn was awful, and saying strange things, but didn't want to go back to the ER, saying that he didn't like that hospital. On thursday, Feb 24, he bent over to pick up his shoes to go into the garage, and told my mom that his shoulder, jaw and neck really hurt when he bent over. She told him to go sit back down, and she would run out to the garage...a 2 minute trip at most. When she came back in the house, my dad was slumped on the sofa, looking like he had a stroke. She told the installer to call 911, and proceeded to try to keep my dad sitting up and alert. She kept talking to him, he had a hard time keeping his eyes focused, he started sweating profusely and asked her to help him get his shirt and belt off. He told her he couldn't breathe, told her he loved her, and by that time the paramedics were there. They layed him down, he started gurgling in his chest, and that was it. He was taken back to the hospital but two of the paramedics (said that he was essentially gone by the time they got him into the ambulance.

My father was religious about keeping his cardiology appointments, getting his Pro-time tests, taking the coumadin, watching his diet. My parents are/were very active, exercising, walking every day. My father hadn't smoked in 45 years, and wasn't a drinker. I know that he had complained of incredible heartburn for the last few months, and that none of the prescription acid reducers were working for him, and that he had seemed so tired, physically and emotionally for the last several months.

He had dropped from about 220 to 160 in the last several months. We were all concerned about this unexplained weight loss, but his doctor just laughed and said that he would like to put his did on whatever diet my dad was on. He didn't seem concerned at all. Now I have found out from my mom that he had been vomiting every day for the last several weeks, had been to the doctor but told that it was just acid reflux, had not seemed like himself for several weeks, and spent a large amount of time just sitting in his chair. None of this was normal, because my dad couldn't sit still; he always had to be doing something and was in the middle of remodeling the kitchen, and had several woodworking projects going.

After doing copious amounts of research, I am finding out that he had several classic risk factors for risk of aortic aneurysm or dissection: previous heart surgery for the AVR, two iliac aneurysms, and a long family history of aortic rupture...going back generations. Clinical signs that should have been considered...fluctuating BP, nausea, vomiting, dysphasia, unexplained weight loss, a somewhat altered mental state, had been experiencing faintness (which the dr said was vertigo), painful breathing, easily winded, had been experiencing hoarseness, had been anxious in his last couple of days, had orthopnea...almost every symptom listed in the cardiology textbooks and journals. The autopsy report stated that the 2.0 cm tear was just above the aortic root into the ascending aorta, which explains the neck and jaw pain, with dissection continuing into descending aorta. Fibrocollagenous scar tissue, 2.0 cm at greatest point, was found around the mechanical valve, as well as evidence of excessive peri-aortic hemorrhage and inflammation, massive hemothorax, pulmonary hypertension. Also extensive scarring in the left venticle was found.

Do we have any recourse against the hospital or cardiologist?
 


Do we have any recourse against the hospital or cardiologist?
Possibly.

What you need to do, imho, is find a good local medical malpractice attorney to review the medical records with an expert to determine if their was any negligence on the part of the physicians or the hospital (or both).

Most medmal attorneys will do a free initial consultation.
 

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