My father had a stroke which left his right side paralyzed can he file for malpractice?

Question

Before his stroke he was showing signs of numbness in his arms and legs. He went to three different doctors and they all said he might have lyme disease. I found out recently that all the dr's had to do was listen to his Corated artery with a stethascope. Is this grounds for medical malpractic and does it constitute a lawsuit?

Answer 1

#1 - Sorry to hear about your dad.

A TIA (mini-stroke) can show as numbness in an arm and a leg ON ONE SIDE only.

Simply listening to a carotid artery may not tell anything. I've seen many patients with high grade narrowings that I couldn't hear anything. a carotid ultrasound will show the narrowings (if any) in the arteries.

Strokes can be either ischemic (from clots/emboli) that travel to the brain, or from bleeding that occurs.

Best of luck to you & your family.

Answer 2

Your information is not correct. You cannot predict that a stroke will occur using a stethoscope, and the carotid artery has no particular relevance to strokes.

Its very unfortunate that the doctors did not associate the numbness with a stroke, because this is one of the symptoms, but there is no test available to predict when a stroke will occur. Strokes can only be identified after they occur. As a precaution, the doctors could have prescribed medication to dissolve clots, or ordered an MRI or other brain image to see if a minor stroke had already occurred, or tested the blood for presence of Lyme disease. What seems strange is not that the docs overlooked numbness as a stroke symptom; its that none of them ordered a blood test for Lyme disease. If they had a negative test for Lyme disease, then they may have thought that a stroke was a possibility.

Its possible, but unlikely that you would win a suit like this since three doctors gave the same diagnosis. You would have to convince a jury or a judge that all three doctors made unreasonable conclusions and failed to order the necessary tests - this would require hiring another doctor to "prove" that all three other three doctors did something wrong. A suit like this would be very expensive. You should be able to find an attorney to handle this case if you are willing to pay the money. Its unlikely that an attorney would take this case without beiing paid up front.

Answer 3

My husband had a stroke that left him right side paralyzed and with no speech, so I understand you're anger thinking it could have been prevented. But the fact is, you don't have much of a case and if you do decide to sue you'll be wasting a LOT of time and energy that would be better spent focusing on what you can do to help your father recover.

Numbness in the armS and legS, by the way, is not classical stroke symptoms. Numbness of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body would be classic and had your dad seen a doctor complaining of that, it probably would brought a different course of investigation from the doctors he saw.

Answer 4

depends on your father's lifestyle too...was he a heavy smoker? How old is your dad? or is heart disease prevelant in the family? {this is what a court will ask}

Some of this can be familial. Yes the doctors were idiots and you can try for a lawsuit, but unless your attorney has a lot to gain from the lawsuit (not your father) it's not worth looking into. You have to have a very solid ground of evidence of neglect. You need to get a copy of all of his medical records and get another doctor's opinion (and be prepared to pay a lot of money for this doctor's opinion). You may ask this other doctor if he's willing to atest to this evidence (or lack thereof) in a court of law (and you have to pay him money to do so).

Answer 5

No, a stroke is the result of a blod clot that broke lose and lodged in his brain, hence the right-sided paralysis. Without any symptoms of a blood clot (which can be difficult to detect), there is no way to know if someone will have a stroke. There could be a blood clot in your leg (which is a common spot), your lungs (pulmonary embolus) or essentially anywhere, which is why they are so difficult to detect. And once they are detected, there is nothing stopping them from breaking lose and causing a stroke.

Answer 6

If you think you could has base for malpractice suit why don't discuss with a malpractice lawer.Usually are free,if they accept your case you will have chance,also no charge until you get compensation.From my point of view you only has a weak case.Does your father has DM or htn?cva is hardly prevent in short time.Control DM,htn hyperlipidemia and take aspirin daily is all you can do.
there are 2 types of stroke;Ischemic strock;due to obstruction of blood vessel and other type is hemorrhagic stroke;due to break of vessel and bleeding.All are hard to prevent to happen in short time.

Answer 7

You did the right thing! Apparently, your Dad never discussed with you or other family members how he felt about going to a Nursing Home. Unfortunately, there are some horror stories regarding Nursing Homes. I had to put my Sister in a Nursing Home that came highly recommended, and I have lived to regret my decision . Sometimes we have to make do with what is at hand. I hope it works out for your Dad and for you. .

Answer 8

You can always sue, but you may not win.