Medical malpractice occurs when medical providers in Albuquerque, New Mexico, fail to provide patients a reasonable standard of care. Common forms of medical malpractice include failure to diagnose, delayed diagnosis and wrong diagnosis. A condition that often gets misdiagnosed or delayed are heart attacks, and they get misdiagnosed more in women than men.
Why heart attacks in women should not be misdiagnosed
Statistics show that one in four women die from heart disease, making it the top cause of death in women. Another study revealed that 11,000 out of 1.5 million heart attacks that occur annually get misdiagnosed.
However, reports also show that the medical community commonly miss essential signs of heart attacks in women. For many decades, women have been subjected to the same criteria as men for diagnosing a heart attack. While women have a higher risk of heart attacks, medical providers are not sufficiently trained to recognize symptoms in women.
Heart attacks commonly get called silent killers because of the lack of training in how to diagnosis female heart attacks. Women’s symptoms are different then men’s and include: shortness of breath, disturbed sleep, fatigue, nausea, dizziness and indigestion.
Finding responsible parties
Several parties could be responsible for a missed or delayed heart attack diagnosis. Hospitals themselves bear responsibility for failing to train their providers and failing to have sufficient staff to allow providers the time to properly assess patients. Hospital systems related to testing and lab work may also be deficient.
Medical malpractice can have permanent or fatal consequences to the patient. If your family has suffered malpractice, you need an experienced legal team to represent you.
