I suspect the Doctor made a Serious mistake that caused my Sons Death! Am I correct?

Question

I took my Son to the Hospital for a Strong Cough and tightness in his Chest.The ER Doctor said he had Bronchitis and he had some Fluid in his Lungs (No X-Rays were taken at that time). He was prescribed Steroids, Antibiotics, and an Inhaler. 2 Days later my son started having Abdominal Cramps, Diareaha, and he was Vomiting, we took him back to the Hospital. A different DR. from earlier said he had a Bladder Problem (it was retaining Fluid and putting pressure on his Bowels). So the Doc ordered a Cathiter and kept my son overnight. later that night we were told my Son was having trouble breathing and was taken to C.C.U. at 4:07 A.M. my Son Died from an enlarged Heart.The Medical Records said he was given a morphine drip for pain (his pain was at a 5 on a scale of 0 to 10). He had an allergic reaction so was given Narcan to reverse the Morphine. his Heart Rate went to over 200 BPM. so he was given someting to slow his heart rate. it slowed to 45 BPM.

The time period between the Morphine and Death was 6 Hours. My Son was only 19 years old.

Answer 1

he must have had a congenital disorder of the heart which caused heart failure. A chest x ray and ecg/ bloods should have been taken. as for the stomach thing i do not know unless there was a problem with septicaemia (blood poisoning caused through an infection). If your son had been treated in england using the nhs there may have been a different outcome but he was definately seriously ill from your description. what are your plans? medical negligence law-suit or letter of complaint to the chief exec of the hospital? i would do the 2nd one first and if no action was taken i would consider the first

Answer 2

I'm not so sure that you should talk to a medical malpractice attorney first. Sometimes attorneys are in it for the money and not to correct a wrong. An attorney could charge you tens of thousands of dollars and determine that there is no legal case or worse there could be little chance of winning and you could go through an entire legal lawsuit over the course of a few years. Lawsuits take an emotional toll on a family. There are a lot of ups and downs.

You don't know whether something went wrong yet. Heart problems can occur due to illnesses such as colds. My grandfather died prematurely of heart problems. He had one of the largest hearts on record, so it was preserved. His illness started out as a virus. Also a co-worker had a cold which went to his heart and he died as well. One was in his 20's when he died, the other was 49.

You may be interested in understanding your son's death and in discovering whether it was preventable or whether given the symptoms, should the doctors have done something differently.

The first thing to do is to get a copy of his medical records. You may want to retype them if they are unclear. Look up all of the treatments on the Internet to get an understanding of what went on. Go back to the records department and ask their personnel to explain anything that is illegible, misspelled or can't be located on the Internet.

The second thing you want is to get a candid explanation from the hospital/doctor as to what happened. Tell the hospital/doctor that you have not been given a clear explanation of his death. You want to understand how his symptoms lead to the various diagnoses and ultimately to his death. I think most people would feel that you are entitled to a clear explanation and it doesn't sound like you have one. How did he get the enlarged heart? If they don't know, then what are the possibilities? If there is a genetic possibility, do other members of my family need to be examined? Is there any treatment for an enlarged heart? Did they administer that treatment on a timely basis? How and when did they detect the enlarged heart? What led to their performing the activities that led to this detection? Perhaps they ordered more tests when he had difficulty breathing or when he passed away. The initial symptoms such as cough and vomiting don't sound like heart symtoms and might not lead to more extensive testing. How sure are they that he died of an enlarged heart? What happened with the enlarged heart to cause his death (there are people alive with an enlarged heart).

The third thing you want to do is to find out from one or more impartial and expert sources whether the hospital performed correctly. It is probably a good idea to get a few opinions. Sometimes experts are all over the map on these kinds of questions. You may want to read some medical malpractice cases to see how they made this determination and follow the same route. This may be costly but at least you will have an answer.

Before hiring a medical malpractice attorney, I certainly would interview them and know what questions to ask. I would definitely talk to former clients. You need a list of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in your state. You should talk with some of the people who filed these lawsuits. Do a lot of research before filing a suit. Many people who go through the court system feel that they have been twice victimized, first by the original action and then by the legal system.

Answer 3

reeeeeally need more details than that, as three hospitalizations can't be fully and completely summarized in a single paragraph.

In fact, this REALLY isn't the place for (mostly) non-medical and non-legal people here telling you what was done right and what wasn't. Consult a physician WITH the medical records who you trust and was unrelated in any way to the entire case. See what he has to say. Don't go to a lawyer until you have a completely neutral medical opinion on the subject.

Also make sure you really do know the diagnosis during each hospitalization, the cause of death, etc. You say he died of an enlarged heart, was an autopsy performed? If so, get a copy of the report and give that to the physician you are consulting in addition to the complete medical record of your son.

Don't be too quick to pass blame, get a neutral opinion. The doctors may have made a mistake, they may have been negligent, or something very uncommon or unforseen may have happened and their initial level of care was appropriate. You won't know that until a neutral party looks at the data objectively.

Answer 4

It is hard to say from this information. If the first doctor was confident in his diagnosis, there would be no reason to think that an otherwise healthy 19 yo would have an enlarged heart, and that treatment would have then been appropriate. It would be important to know why the heart was enlarged, and for how long, to decide. Certainly, if his heart enlarged acutely, then this is a horrible occurrence, but not malpractice by the doctors... there would be no way to know or predict that happening. Such a tragedy! The morphine would usually help the heart, if anything... It MAY have been too late to do ANYTHING when you came back two days later...

Answer 5

I can see the first diagnosis but if he was taken to the E.R. then an x-ray is standard procedure to rule out pnumonia, etc. The second time he went if he had cramps and diareaha but could still go #1 then a cathedar isnt necissary. Were any other tests done while he was in the hospital? Did he know ahead of time that he was allergic to morphine? If so then it should not have been given. If he did not know then morphin is a common narcatic used to help with pain. As soon as they found out then they quickly tried to fix that problem. Doctors cant guess if someone is allergic to something. That is not the doctors fault unless you told them he was allergic. But in any case something isnt right here. x rays should have been done the first time. Second time in the er and hospital stay does not make any sense to me at all. I am a nurse.

Answer 6

First, it's probably worth consulting a malpractice attorney, to find out the steps to having an independent review done in the case.

To me, it seems like there is information that may or may not suggest malpractice.

1) This is a rare event, and hospitals aren't liable for failing to diagnose a 1-in-a-million case. The vast majority of patients that get seen with your son's symptoms (chest cough) aren't recommended for chest x-ray.

2) Allergic reaction to medication is a reasonable side effect to medication. I wonder what the cause of the enlarged heart was - may have been natural, and possibly made the allergic reaction worse.

3) Were bladder and treatment for chest cough related? Maybe not.

But the reason this catches my eye is the morphine. It's a heavy duty pain killer, and to be used in this instance is strange to me. It's not enough to say "make 'em pay" but it is enough that you should have an independent review - it just smells funny.

It's a terrible thing to put your child to rest - my prayers are with you.

Answer 7

Autopsies are mandatory in several states with young deaths or deaths occuring within 24 hours of hospital admission.
It is too difficult to tell if there was malpractice without looking at the medical records. For instance was he also given lasix for fluid build up? What other types of tests did they do.
What preempted your son's enlarged heart.
You have my Sympathy.
And I wish the best for you.
Some hospitals will do medical reviews of records at families requests to determine if errors have occurred or perhaps you can find an attorney to review this...one that has experience in medical malpractice.
It will be too difficult for you to understand the medical records yourself even if you try to look things up on the internet, especially with a heart case.

Answer 8

I am sorry to hear about your loss. This must be a very hard time for you - a mixture of anger and despair, and a need to understand why your son dies so unexpectedly.

If you feel there was medical negligence, I would suggest you first get a third-party independent medical opinion. It is impossible to know unless one looks into this thoroughly. What might seem like medical negligence might infact be an unofrutnate cascade of events that ultimately led to your son's death.

Once again, my sympathies for your loss. Wishing you strength during this time.

seductionsalvation.blogspot.com

Answer 9

Is the enlarged heart the official cause of death? Was an autopsy performed on him? How old was your son?

Get your son's medical records and contact a lawyer who specializes in malpractice. Let them decide if you have a case.

Answer 10

Based on the minimal info seems like he had viral cardiomypathy. The initial symptoms are suggestive of a viral illness and a very small percentage of individuals develop cardiomyopathy and heart failure after a viral illness.

Have a neutral physician or nurse (someone who you can trust) review all the medical records before you waste money on a lawyer. My sincere condolences for your loss.