Early Signs of Heart Disease Missed by Doctors
Heart disease remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States. This is why an adequate and early diagnosis of any kind of heart disease is vital for potentially saving a person’s life. Unfortunately, diagnosing and predicting a heart disease properly is complicated and has led to multiple patient deaths as a result. This is why misdiagnoses and heart diseases are commonly associated with each other during medical malpractice lawsuits. If you or a loved one died suffered injuries from a misdiagnosed heart disease, consider working with a Central New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer to seek compensation.
How Often Heart Disease is Misdiagnosed
A study that looked at medical malpractice cases involving heart disease found that most of these malpractice incidents happened because of a diagnostic error. Diagnostic errors made up 75% of medical malpractice cases for heart disease and 75% of these incidents of misdiagnosis led to death. Around 86% of these incidents were considered severe.
Common problems faced by misdiagnosed patients were delayed medical tests, failure to obtain a referral, and not applying a differential diagnosis. Many heart disease conditions were missed by these doctors as a result. This can be dangerous because heart disease is often a deadly medical condition. Even those who survive heart attacks or strokes may be left with temporary or permanent disabilities in speech, movement, or thinking.
Heart Disease Symptoms Missed in Women
According to the American Heart Association, more women now are dying from heart disease than men. Compared to 392,000 men who died from heart disease in 2007, 422,000 women died from heart disease 
in the same year. Around 10-30% of women experience heart disease in the smaller arteries because their arteries do not dilate properly to provide sufficient blood flow to the heart.
Dilation problems in women’s arteries can easily be overlooked because the main focus of doctors when it comes to detecting heart disease is plaques built-up in larger arteries. This may account for why more women are experiencing heart disease than men, but more research needs to be done before a definitive cause can be established.
Common signs of heart disease that doctors will look for are chest pain or pressure and shortness of breath. Medical tests will use an angiogram to see if any arteritis is blocked in your cardiovascular system. It only takes one misinterpretation to cause a potentially fatal diagnostic error.
Medical Malpractice Lawyer in New York
Facing the fact that your trusted doctor or other healthcare provider made a mistake that could have cost you your life can be difficult. Try talking a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Cortland if you suffered some kind of injury after a misdiagnosis. Depending on what damages you experienced, you may be eligible to receive compensation for your medical bills and lost wages.
At Gattuso & Ciotoli, we offer clients four different areas of legal practice. All you have to do is contact us at (315) 314-8000 today for a free consultation. Our offices are located in Central New York, Syracuse, Watertown, Binghamton, Syracuse, North Syracuse, Camillus, Liverpool, Cortland, and Auburn.