Misdiagnosis...should I talk to a lawyer?

A internist ordered tests heart echocardiogram and liver ultra sound, plus the usual blood and urine tests. I was told by the Dr that he would CALL ME with the results. After waitng a week I called the DR's office a "nurse" told me the Dr had sent me out a letter. She said she would read the letter to me. She read that the results of the test (echocardiogram showed I had "stiffening of the heart" (aka cardiomyopathy) A quote from a medical site~~>"While all types of cardiomyopathy can cause heart failure, each case requires specific strategies for recovery. Heart failure is treated with a vigorous blend of patient education, dietary changes, and medications" So basically the Dr was saying I was morethanthisclose to heart failure. It was a Friday that the "nurse"ead me the letter on. The Dr was NOT available to ask questions of..the woman who said she was a nurse was less than empathetic actually seeming annoyed by my asking quaestions. I reported this way of infoeming me as to this

serious condition to patient representatives..they said they had never heard anything like a DR sending a letter with such a diagnosis. In the meantime I cried and was terrified all weekend, I mean out of mind with worry (I am not even 60 yet, I have teens I still have to raise) I was so sacred. Come Monday I made an appointemnet with a cardiology clinic in the same hospital (where THEY said they had never heard of a DR sending succch a diagnosis thru the mail either) everyone was noin plussed by this behavior of the DR .) I was ghurried into an appointment for wednesday. Finally seeing the Cardiologist he said that there was NOTHING wrong with me..I did NOT EVEN have high cholesterol. He made dictation notations on how this DR had upset me with this diagnosis..the Cardiologist said tio me that (and these are his EXACT WORDS( "they are full of s h i t " the DR that diagnosed stiffening of the heart. I was so relieved I broke down and cried , what about my emotional turmoil?

Sorry for the uncaring "medical professionals". I've been there, but I never received or heard of receiving confidential medical results over the mail. If I were you I would see another Doctor. Now about suing, you can give it a shot. But one thing that I have realized that suing for Medical Malpractice is not easy. I say this from my own experience. But I wish you luck if you do decide to sue because the way that they treated you was horrible. Try contacting a lawyer and hopefully they can tell you if you have enough probable cause to sue. Good Luck....

well, they are jaded....and they don't care for the most part...i am not a fan of frivilous law suits and your problem is, you are still alive....and have not had further problems...you have to prove damages to get a law suit to work....sad but true...get a second opinion ,,new doc and report him to the bbb.....at least it will be on the record...good luck....tardiness and rudeness, unfortuantely are not grounds for law suits..if you can prove that delay in treatment has injured you, or may in the future you are good to go.....but that involves a lawyer...

Yes I would talk to a lawyer about it. I know that medical insurance is ludacris nowadays because of all the malpractice. You may actually have quite a big lawsuit on your hands. My uncle is a lawyer, and he told me he could get me 10,000 for slipping on a wet floor at jewel, so you could be talking big money here.

Get a lawyer. You obviously suffered emotional distress caused by un-professional behavior (malpractice). Additionally, no one should have given out info over the phone to someone who called them. Usually they call you, and even then its 50-50 if they give the info out over the phone.

I'd talk to an attorney. I'm thinking of doing so myself, since for 2 years I was basically told I was nuts and there was nothing wrong with me, and then it turned out I HAD A BRAIN TUMOR!!!

Document everything while it's fresh in your mind and talk to an attorney. Nothing may come of it, but at least you'll feel like you did something. Good luck!

Malpractice lawsuits are very tricky. The answer to your question and situation is --- no. Don't pursue a lawsuit. You'll only go through more unnecessary stress.

For a malpractice suit to work, you must be able to demonstrate that you are substantially worse off after treatment than before. In your case, it would have to be shown that those days of anguish for you have left you in a long-term worsened condition. Outside Doctors would have to substantiate this. You can see the difficulty.

The expense of pursuing such a case placed against the probability of a large settlement (and the settlement has to have a possible "large" outcome for an attorney to show any interest) would virtually eliminate any viability. Keep in mind that it's a business for an attorney; he/she could care less about your problems -- unless those problems can parlay into big dollars. So, the irony of your situation is this --- if because of this misinformation you had become so stressed that you actually had a heart attack, and you could prove that your heart had been healthy leading up to this incident, you then would have grounds for a pretty good case. Twisted, isn't it?

What you can do is report the incident to the County Medical Society to which the Doctor belongs, along with the AMA, the BBB, your State Attorney General's Office, and any other agency that comes to mind.

It's a shame that such negligent and uncaring behavior can exist within the medical profession, or any for that matter; but "negligent" and "uncaring" seem to be prevailing themes within our culture any more.

You should not contact a lawyer. Medicine is a practice of theory, and doctors will make the wrong diagnosis from time to time. If we threaten every doctor with a law suit, there will be no more doctors because they will be afraid to practice when people are going to sue them!

I have worked as a patient advocate for a time, and I understand your emotional state. If I was the internist I would have not made that diagnosis and instead referred you to a cardiologist for further evaluation. However I am not him, and maybe he/she felt confident enough to make the diagnosis. What the nurse probably read to you was his differential diagnosis, and since the doctor didn't read the Dx to you, and a RN did, you can't sue the doctor anyways. RNs have autonomy in their practise, and do not have to "borrow" authority from the MD like a medical assistant does.
He cannot be held responsible for the actions of a practising nurse.

Something is/was wrong to begin with,the doctor WILL always call you if there is something he/she finds of importance to his patient.You should NEVER accept ANY other summed up "so called facts" by anyone else other than him/her.If you have solid proof of this conversation that took place (recorded by yourself or the office in which you called),you may very well have a lawsuit to persue.