Top Philadelphia Stroke Misdiagnosis Lawyers

How Does A Stroke Misdiagnosis Happen?

Stroke symptoms can sometimes resemble those of other medical conditions, particularly when symptoms are unusual or relatively mild.

A stroke may be missed or its diagnosis delayed when healthcare professionals fail to recognize symptoms, perform an adequate neurological examination, obtain appropriate imaging, or respond to abnormal findings.

Conditions that may sometimes resemble stroke include:

• Vertigo — Vertigo can cause severe dizziness and imbalance. However, vertigo accompanied by other neurological signs can also occur with certain strokes.
• Migraine — Migraines may cause severe headache, visual changes, numbness, or other neurological symptoms that overlap with stroke symptoms.
• Hypoglycemia — Low blood sugar may cause confusion, weakness, and other symptoms similar to stroke.
• Seizure — Symptoms following a seizure can sometimes resemble neurological deficits caused by stroke.
• Inner-ear disorders — Vestibular disorders may cause dizziness and imbalance, symptoms that can also occur with posterior-circulation stroke.
• Drug or alcohol intoxication — Difficulty walking, slurred speech, or altered mental status may be incorrectly attributed to intoxication when the patient is actually experiencing a neurological emergency.

One area of particular concern involves patients who arrive at an emergency department with dizziness, severe imbalance, visual disturbances, headache, or other less obvious stroke symptoms and are discharged without the underlying neurological condition being recognized.

What Stroke-Treatment Errors May Constitute Medical Malpractice?

A delayed stroke diagnosis does not automatically mean medical malpractice occurred, and not every patient is eligible for every type of stroke treatment.

However, when a healthcare provider fails to meet the applicable standard of care, and that failure causes additional injury, there may be grounds for a malpractice claim.

Potential errors that may warrant investigation include:

• Failing to recognize signs and symptoms of acute stroke
• Failing to perform an appropriate neurological examination
• Failing to order timely brain imaging
• Failing to obtain vascular imaging when clinically indicated
• Misreading or failing to act on CT, MRI, or other imaging results
• Failing to consider a large-vessel occlusion
• Unreasonably delaying intravenous thrombolytic treatment in an eligible patient
• Failing to appropriately evaluate a patient for treatment with alteplase or tenecteplase
• Failing to evaluate an eligible patient for mechanical thrombectomy
• Failing to timely transfer a patient to a hospital capable of performing thrombectomy when appropriate
• Failing to appropriately evaluate a wake-up stroke or stroke with an uncertain onset time
• Missing a posterior-circulation stroke because the patient did not have traditional stroke symptoms
• Failing to recognize stroke in a child or adolescent
• Discharging a patient from an emergency department despite unresolved neurological warning signs

Current stroke-care guidelines recognize several different treatment pathways rather than a single universal deadline. As a result, the question in a malpractice case is not simply whether a particular treatment was given. Attorneys and medical experts must determine whether the patient was a reasonable candidate for that treatment and whether the medical team acted appropriately based on the information available at the time.

Can Medical Malpractice Cause A Stroke?

Not every stroke malpractice case involves a stroke that doctors failed to diagnose. In some cases, negligent medical care may cause or contribute to the stroke itself. Some examples of how negligent medical care can contribute include:

• Medication errors involving anticoagulants or other drugs that affect bleeding or clotting
• Failure to appropriately manage anticoagulation
• Surgical complications that interrupt blood flow or cause a clot to form
• Failure to recognize or respond to complications during or after surgery
• Improper management of blood pressure
• Failure to diagnose or treat a vascular injury
• Failure to respond to signs of postoperative bleeding or clot formation
• Preventable complications during childbirth that result in maternal or neonatal stroke

Determining whether medical negligence actually caused a stroke generally requires a detailed review of the patient's medical history, medications, procedures, laboratory results, imaging, and the timing of symptoms.

How Do Attorneys Determine Whether A Stroke Delay Caused Additional Harm?

Causation is one of the most important, and often one of the most medically complicated, issues in a stroke malpractice case. It is not enough to show that a doctor should have recognized a stroke sooner. A successful malpractice claim generally must also establish that the delay caused additional injury.

For example, attorneys and medical experts may examine whether earlier diagnosis probably would have allowed the patient to receive treatment that could have limited brain damage, prevented the stroke from progressing, or improved the patient's neurological outcome. An investigation may include reviewing:

• When the patient was last known to be well
• When symptoms began or were first documented
• Emergency medical services records
• Emergency department triage records
• Neurological examinations
• CT scans, MRIs and vascular imaging
• Laboratory testing
• Medication records
• Consultation requests and responses
• Transfer records
• Treatment eligibility at different points in time
• Changes in the patient's neurological condition
• Rehabilitation records and long-term disability

Imaging can be especially important because it may help medical experts reconstruct the progression of a stroke and determine whether there was an opportunity for earlier intervention.

How Long Do I Have To File A Stroke Malpractice Claim In Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania medical malpractice claims are generally subject to a two-year statute of limitations.

Determining when that period began, however, can be complicated. In some circumstances, a patient may not immediately know that a stroke was missed or that a preventable treatment delay contributed to additional neurological injury.

The discovery rule may affect the analysis in certain cases, and different legal issues can arise when the patient is a minor, when the stroke results in death, or when a governmental healthcare provider or institution may be involved.

Because missing the applicable deadline can prevent an otherwise valid claim from being pursued, anyone concerned about potential stroke malpractice should have the circumstances reviewed as soon as reasonably possible.

How To Find A Philadelphia Stroke Misdiagnosis Attorney

If you or a loved one suffered a stroke in Pennsylvania and believe medical negligence may have caused the stroke, delayed its diagnosis, or prevented timely treatment, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim. 

But a serious outcome by itself does not establish negligence. Stroke cases frequently require detailed analysis of medical records, diagnostic imaging, treatment eligibility, and the timing of critical decisions.

That is one of the advantages Ross Feller Casey brings to these cases.

The firm's experienced Philadelphia stroke malpractice lawyers work alongside its on-staff team of physicians to investigate what happened, whether accepted standards of care were violated, and whether alternative care would likely have changed the patient's outcome.

Ross Feller Casey has already helped numerous patients and families affected by stroke malpractice and has recovered multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements in stroke-related cases.

Contact Ross Feller Casey for a free consultation to discuss your circumstances and determine whether further investigation is appropriate.

Ross Feller Casey handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency-fee basis, which means you will not be charged anything unless a financial recovery is made in your case.