If someone goes to the doctor for a Bronchitis, is prescribed antibiotics (which side effects are Nausea, Abdominal Pain and Diareaha). then 2 days later goes to the Hospital Emergency Room for those same symptoms. they are Diagnosed with a Bladder Infection, given a cathiter and kept overnight. was given morphine for Pain (2 hits in 20 mins.) had an allergic reaction. then given 2 doses of Narcan to counter the morphine. the heart rate jumped to above 200. then was given 2 doses of something to slow the Heart Rate. Lowered it to 45. all in a 6 hour time period. They Die of an enlarged Heart. in your opinion what happened?
2006-09-02 05:56:04 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Heart Diseases
On the Autopsy Report the Patholigist questioned the use of Morphine. (The Patient's pain on a Scale of 0 to 10 was at a 5)
2006-09-02 09:02:35 · update #1
Just call an attorney versed in medical malpractice. Period.
2006-09-02 06:01:56 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
What were the original bronchitis symptoms? Age of patient? An elderly person with bronchitis is at risk for pneumonia. Antibiotics do tend to cause diarrhea. An elderly person with diarrhea may be prone to a UTI because of a personal hygiene problem and just being more susceptible because of age and skin condition. I don't believe that the heart can go from normal size to enlarge in 6 hours to cause death - but maybe an underlying heart condition and allergic reaction and treatment may have caused heart failure. There is the possibility of sepsis as well. When someone has multiple infections (bronchitis and UTI) this is a very real and life threatening situation. Often there isn't one cause but a scenario of events that can lead to a life threatening situation. Since I am not a pathologist I don't really know for sure what happened. It does sound like a very very unfortunate consequence of an unknown allergy to morphine. Sometimes when you lose someone you are just looking for answers and sometimes there isn't just one simple conclusion. If the patient had a known allergy and it was reported and ignored, you could file a law suit, but it certainly would not bring this person back or really compensate you for such a sudden and unfortunate loss.
2006-09-02 17:27:11 · answer #2 · answered by petlover 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If it was really iatrogenic (outcome caused by the doctor either intentional or not) in nature then the doctor should answer for it. If you really want to sue, then ask a doctor friend at first, if you have and not a lawyer, because almost all of the doctors handling patients know their cases and almost always have records of treatment as strong proofs about what really transpired while the patient was under his care.
If the patient management was right as stated in the patients charts and other pertinent documents, then it will be hard to proove negligence in the part of the physician because everyone knows that there will always be a certain margin where untoward reactions can happen on a patient albeit very rarely, even if the management done was unquestinably patterned on the conventional treatment protocol. Then after gathering an unbiased medical opinion from a doctor friend, hire a lawyer for the lawsuit if it is really reasonable to do that because a poorly or haphazardly prepared lawsuit will definitely cost you a fortune only to find out that there actually was non. That way, you'll be prepared for whatever it takes. The doctor knows what to do in times like this, I should know because i am one.
2006-09-02 14:20:42 · answer #3 · answered by *** 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am not a Medical Profession .. but I doubt anyone in the profession would be able give you an accurate answer without seeing all the charts on the patient from the very state to finish of what happened. If this has happened to someone you know .. and you are considering a lawsuit against the doctors or hospitals involved .. what you need is to sit down and discuss this with a lawyer who's expertise is in this field. They will be able to let you know the chances for a successful lawsuit in your state .. since it varies a great deal from state to state. Let the lawyers worry about the records you will need to get to proceed with any action. Many lawyers will consult with you for free on the first consultation. Good luck !
2006-09-02 13:04:36 · answer #4 · answered by tysavage2001 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No opinion yet...how soon after hospitalization did they die? The heart cannot enlarge significantly in a few day or even week period. Muscle fibers require time to build up. Also curious would be the lab results. To build muscle fiber, you have to break down existing muscle. In all muscles this produces wastes which would show on urinalysis. One more question, did this person have a regular primary physician? My opinion: Probably too little past medical information was available for the physicians involved which reduced them to responding re-actively to this persons medical condition. The norm would be to try to stabilize, restore homeostasis, clear the body, and run diagnostics to determine what was going on.
2006-09-02 15:45:43 · answer #5 · answered by Patrick M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋