Can you sue?

Question

I have a friend that had extreme abdominal pain last Thursday night and she went to the ER here in a town that is real small, and the isn't anyone you can talk to here that has anything good to say about the hospital here anyway. but they diagnosed her with urinary tract infection and gave her a shot and sent her away. well her boyfriend is a truck driver and they went to a bigger town on a load and she couldn't even stand when she got out of the truck so they went to the hospital there and she has a tubal pregnancy. can they sue the hospital here, since that is really dangerous and they mis-diagnosed her on something so serious. Also she is going into surgery TONIGHT, so if everyone out there reads this could pray for her, it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks

Answer 1

YES i would sue the hospital they definately have a case.

Answer 2

did they do a pregnancy test? First of all these are rarely caught in time to schedule surgery....its usually caught at the last minute prior to rupture and emergency surgery is done. Also, what is she gonna sue for? Misdiagnosis? Medicine is a practice, its not perfect. She may have not had the typical symptoms of a tubal pregnancy at the time, and may have even tested negative for pregnancy. She might have had a urinary tract infection as well. There are a lot of factors here. I am not sue happy and don't think she has a case, however if the service at the hospital is that bad you might be justified in putting an ad in the paper to see if others have had similar problems. If they are faced with a bunch of lawsuits they might get their act together and run the ER better.

Answer 3

Wow I wish you could sue, but you probably cant.

I went into the ER with extream pain, the diagnosis was "unexplained abdominal pain", a week later the pain came back and i went to a different hospital, they found out I had had a sist that had ruptured on the out side of my uterus, and was leaking fluid into my pelvis. I then found out i was pregnant, dangerouse times. The bad thing was that i had a lot of fluid, not just a little, good thing was that after a few weeks the fluid reabsorbed. If it didnt reabsorb or if it got worse it would have ment blood, sugery and me loosing the kid.
The thing is that the first hospital didnt give a damn, and was rude, and thought i was just a cry wolfer cause of my age(i was 19). I got very mad, and told them to shove the bill. I got a call from their lawyer yesterday :) I dont give a damn, i hope the hospital gets shut down.
I will keep your friend in my thoughts, and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Answer 4

maybe she can sue I got lucky I went into the er with severe pain in my side and I had gotten my period that month so I didnt think I was pregnant they took a urine sample for some other junk and they came back and told me I was pregnant I knew right away what must be happening they rushed me up to ultrasound and sure enough it was a tubal pregnancy. The doctor told me that the tube had been on the verge of rupturing and they whisked me off to emergency surgery. I hope your friend will be ok and if they can sue they should.

Answer 5

I do not think that they could sue the hospital for that. Reason is because the shot didnt cause the tubal pregnancy and it didnt cause harm or death. Even if she did go to the other doctor first she still would of had a surgery to get the fetus out. I will pray for her and the future! You sound like a great friend.

Answer 6

Oh goodness.... I will definitely be praying for her. As far as the lawsuit goes. I say talk to a lawyer it is definitely possible. I was a paralegal in South Carolina. That would be your best bet, especially since the hospital has a bad rep. I have found out that hospitals now have a malpractice form that you sign. ALWAYS READ WHAT YOU SIGN!!!! It simply states that if anything goes wrong that you will not sue them. It is messed up, but sadly it is true. I'm so sorry about your friend.

Answer 7

From experience I will tell you that medical malpractice is a very hard thing to sue for. Doctors are very well protected. I have spoken to several lawyers and basically unless you have been effected in some long term way that you will always have to live with...(not emotional) then you are out of luck. My mother is suing a dr right now but she will live with her problem forever. Unless this say prevented her from having more kids or hurt her insides badly then probably not because sometimes tubals are easy to misdiagnose and you have to have another dr to go against the dr that treated her and that is very hard.. even trying to get one out of state.

Answer 8

My friend was sent hom from the ER 3 times with tylenol for abdominal pains. The forth time she went straight to a gynocologist and they discovered the same thing - ectopic (tubal) pregnancy. Her ovary was pulsing blood and it was filling up her uterus. She had to have an overy removed. She filed a complaint against the docter, but that's all she could afford to do.

Answer 9

I think they have a very good chance of sueing the doctor/hospital. They should of picked up on things like that since it is their job. People are very stupid in this world. I would say at least talk to a lawyer and see what your chances are. Hope your friends turns out ok!

Answer 10

She could try, however....
tubal pregnancies are rare in healthy young women
she didn't ask them to run a pregnancy test
most hospitals ask at admissions when the date of the last period was and if it was less than 28 days they have no reason to suspect pregnancy unless the patient tells them otherwise.

She could try to sue but probably will not win. She is in my prayers.

Answer 11

In reality you can sue anyone. Have them weigh the consequences. The thing is that she ended up okay, and even if they had caught it, nothing would be different. She'd still have to have the surgery. I know it sounds mean, but if there wasn't any real harm done, it may not be worth their time and energy. Have them call a lawyer and ask.