How Common Is Malpractice In Cardiology?

When we’re feeling unwell, we rely on the expert knowledge and experience of doctors and nurses to diagnose and treat whatever ails us. But when medical providers are negligent in their care, the results can be catastrophic. Cardiac events like heart attack, heart failure, arrhythmias, heart valve problems, and endocarditis (an infection that forms around the heart) can all begin with mild symptoms but can quickly turn deadly if not diagnosed swiftly and treated appropriately.

What Is Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a medical provider’s action or inaction causes harm to the patient by violating the accepted standard of care. In other words, it may be malpractice if a different, reasonably competent provider would have done something differently and not caused harm.

To prove malpractice, patients (and their lawyers) need to show that the care did not meet generally accepted standards, that the patient was injured as a result of that lower standard of care, and that the injury resulted in significant damages, such as death, disability, pain, suffering, loss of income, or medical bills.

How Can Malpractice Occur In Cardiology?

When we look at the numbers for the most common errors in cardiology, a quarter of all medical malpractice claims result from failing to make a diagnosis, making the wrong diagnosis, or delaying a diagnosis. Around 14 percent of malpractice cases involve mismanaging a patient’s treatment, such as failing to properly communicate with the entire care team, performing standard tests, and proper record keeping. Almost a quarter of cases are a result of the improper performance of a treatment, procedure, or surgery, and 6 percent are due to poor medication management.

While these situations can happen throughout the medical field, they can be particularly deadly when it comes to cardiology. Failure to diagnose a rash, or thinking it’s eczema rather than poison ivy, will not cause any serious harm to the patient down the road. But sending away a woman who’s having a heart attack because she’s presenting with “atypical” symptoms (which is not at all unusual in women) can result in catastrophic injury or even death.

Is Malpractice Common In Cardiology?

Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to determine how many mistakes from doctors and other healthcare providers result in harm to the patient because most of us assume that doctors are doing everything in their power to help. We do know that 8.6 percent of cardiologists and 18.9 percent of cardiothoracic surgeons are sued yearly for medical malpractice, compared to only 6.6 percent of general internists. The numbers are even more startling when we consider that 1 in 3 cardiologists have been directly sued at some point in their career, and more than half have been named somewhere in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

When it comes to a patient’s likelihood of being a victim of cardiac malpractice, these numbers don’t tell the whole story because many patients suffering from a cardiac event become victims of malpractice before ever seeing a cardiac specialist. Internal medicine and family doctors are often the first providers someone calls when experiencing early symptoms of a cardiac event. While some clinicians may be able to see you right away, others may make you wait 2-3 days for an appointment or even instruct you to “wait it out” to see if your symptoms improve. While this may be a reasonable recommendation for some patients, every moment without treatment during a cardiac event can mean more damage to the heart.

Emergency rooms and urgent care clinics are usually the next stop for people with worsening symptoms. When everything happens as it should, doctors evaluate your current symptoms and health history, order the appropriate tests, and provide treatment before the damage becomes worse. But when symptoms aren’t obviously related to a cardiac event, a triage nurse may have you sit in the waiting room for hours before seeing a doctor so that the “real emergencies” can be treated first. Emergency doctors may also fail to order the correct tests, misread the results of those tests, ignore risk factors that might increase the odds of a cardiac event, or provide incorrect treatment.

Was It Malpractice Or A Complication?

Cardiology is not the place where you want errors to happen. A misdiagnosis that delays treatment can quickly result in catastrophic injury or death, and by the time the error is realized, it may already be too late. But a bad outcome doesn’t always mean malpractice; things can go wrong even when doctors do everything right. If you think you or a loved one’s doctor did not provide the proper standard of care, it’s essential to get a second opinion from another cardiac specialist. If another competent provider would have handled the situation differently, then you may have a case to make for malpractice.

Why Choose Ross Feller Casey?

If you or a loved one have been catastrophically injured due to a doctor’s negligence, look for a legal team that specializes in medical malpractice. The lawyers and doctors at Ross Feller Casey know that cardiac medicine isn’t always black and white, but if there’s evidence that malpractice may have occurred, we’ll find it. Our team has an unrivaled track record of winning medical malpractice cases, and we’re ready to put our expertise to work for you. Call us today for your free consultation.