Syracuse Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
A failure to diagnose appendicitis can result in a serious injury or even death to a patient. If you believe your doctor misdiagnosed your symptoms or failed to diagnose appendicitis in a timely manner, you may be entitled to compensation for your harm. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our Syracuse medical malpractice attorneys have helped many New York clients resolve their personal injury claims, and we can help you as well. You can rest assured that we are committed to holding negligent medical professionals accountable for the harm that they cause.
Appendicitis is an inflammation of the appendix and causes pain in your lower abdomen. In most people, the pain begins in the navel and then moves. As the inflammation worsens, the pain increases. While anyone can develop appendicitis, it is most common in people between the ages of 10 and 30. Standard treatment for the condition is the surgical removal of the appendix to avoid the danger of rupture. A ruptured appendix can result in the leaking of infection-causing organisms into the abdominal cavity, which can lead to serious health complications and even death. Appendicitis may be misdiagnosed for any of the following reasons:
- Improper physical examination;
- Abnormal appearance of symptoms;
- Inadequate follow-up;
- Failure to order appropriate tests;
- Failure to ask proper questions;
- Condition is misdiagnosed or not diagnosed.
Physicians are trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of appendicitis. Failing to diagnose appendicitis may be malpractice when a doctor fails to take proper steps to determine that a patient’s appendix is inflamed and at risk of rupturing. Medical malpractice takes place when a doctor causes an injury or death by failing to use the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would use in the same or a similar situation. To hold a medical professional legally liable, the patient typically has to show that the doctor’s deviation from the accepted standard of care was a direct cause of his or her injury.
For example, if a patient goes to the emergency room with abdominal pain but is sent home without a diagnosis and subsequently goes into shock and dies due to appendicitis, the doctor would likely be liable for malpractice. This is because a doctor adhering to the proper standard of care would be able to identify the signs of appendicitis and treat the condition accordingly. Not every adverse health outcome is due to medical malpractice because some complications are inevitable. We can investigate your case to help determine what happened.
If appendicitis is not diagnosed in a timely manner, it can lead to severe illness or death. If you or someone close to you has suffered complications from a physician’s failure to diagnose or treat appendicitis, we can help. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our skilled Syracuse surgical malpractice attorneys have the experience and resources to handle your case. We can answer your questions and address your concerns throughout the entire legal process. To learn more, call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us through our website.
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Amputation Malpractice in Syracuse and Across New York, Syracuse Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, March 1, 2018
Orthopedist Malpractice in Syracuse, Syracuse Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, February 26, 2018
