Is this death cause for lawsuit??

[heidi1975]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee

About two weeks ago, my uncle- age 64 and relatively healthy- had lower abdominal pain while at work. They called 911 and he arrived at the hospital around 10:00 in the morning. I arrived at the hospital before my other family members. He was in a great deal of pain, but the doctor on duty seemed to think it could be his appendix or possibly something from a hernia operation he had 8 months ago. My other family members arrived shortly after and I left about 1:00. At this point, he was still sitting in a room. Nothing had been done for 3 hours. The emergency room was NOT busy! My sister called me at 1:50 and told me that something had happened and I needed to get back up there immediately. We later found out that he had an aortic aneurysm that ruptured around the time my sister called me, almost four hours after he arrived. He died around 3:00. My family understands that this condition is difficult to repair once rupture occurs, but before an aneurysm ruptures- surgery can be done. We can't help but feel like something is wrong when our loved one sits in a room for that long and then dies. Sorry this is so long, I am writing this on my aunt's behalf and any help would be appreciated.

 

[panzertanker]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee

About two weeks ago, my uncle- age 64 and relatively healthy- had lower abdominal pain while at work. They called 911 and he arrived at the hospital around 10:00 in the morning. I arrived at the hospital before my other family members. He was in a great deal of pain, but the doctor on duty seemed to think it could be his appendix or possibly something from a hernia operation he had 8 months ago. My other family members arrived shortly after and I left about 1:00. At this point, he was still sitting in a room. Nothing had been done for 3 hours. The emergency room was NOT busy! My sister called me at 1:50 and told me that something had happened and I needed to get back up there immediately. We later found out that he had an aortic aneurysm that ruptured around the time my sister called me, almost four hours after he arrived. He died around 3:00. My family understands that this condition is difficult to repair once rupture occurs, but before an aneurysm ruptures- surgery can be done. We can't help but feel like something is wrong when our loved one sits in a room for that long and then dies. Sorry this is so long, I am writing this on my aunt's behalf and any help would be appreciated.

I am sorry for your loss, but I would venture to say that there is no malpractice here.

Malpractice dictates that certain criteria must be met.
From your post, none of those criteria have been met.
Talk to a medmal lawyer so that you can ease your mind and get on with the healing process.
AAA are extremely traumatic and almost impossible to deal with after leakage has occured. I have been unfortunate enough to try to save 3 people from rupture (all unsuccessfully).

Good luck.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

What is the name of your state? Tennessee

About two weeks ago, my uncle- age 64 and relatively healthy- had lower abdominal pain while at work. They called 911 and he arrived at the hospital around 10:00 in the morning. I arrived at the hospital before my other family members. He was in a great deal of pain, but the doctor on duty seemed to think it could be his appendix or possibly something from a hernia operation he had 8 months ago. My other family members arrived shortly after and I left about 1:00. At this point, he was still sitting in a room. Nothing had been done for 3 hours. The emergency room was NOT busy! My sister called me at 1:50 and told me that something had happened and I needed to get back up there immediately. We later found out that he had an aortic aneurysm that ruptured around the time my sister called me, almost four hours after he arrived. He died around 3:00. My family understands that this condition is difficult to repair once rupture occurs, but before an aneurysm ruptures- surgery can be done. We can't help but feel like something is wrong when our loved one sits in a room for that long and then dies. Sorry this is so long, I am writing this on my aunt's behalf and any help would be appreciated.

I am sorry for your loss.
As Panzertanker said, once an AAA leaks there is little that can be done and unlikely that there is any cause of action. The doctor was probably correct in thinking that it might be linked to his hernia operaiton 8 months before and it takes time to rule out appendix. My grandmother survived an AAA only to die of sepsis several months later. She also had a history of hernis which she refused to have repaired for over 20 years when she eventually died from her AAA at age 84. There is a history of Alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency that runs in our family which increases the risk of AAA and other types of aneurysms and with any anuerysm's there are risks treating them and not treating them, one of those risks being a blowout elsewhere, thus repairing the hernia may have increased the risk of AAA for your uncle and even this is a rare occurance. One thing you can to to honor your uncle's memory is for your entire family to be tested for A1AD and add to the clinical research on AAA, at risk family members might also be further evaluated.
http://www.alphaone.org/alpha1/get_tested.html
Here is another threae re delays and AAA
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=282534