Failure to take a patient’s symptoms seriously or to obtain a complete and thorough history of symptoms enough can lead to catastrophe. That is what the family of a teenage girl who died of a brain tumor in 2016 say caused her death. They are suing the hospital and three doctors for medical malpractice for failing to diagnose the tumor in time to treat it.
According to the Concord Monitor, the girl first began experiencing headaches in February. She went to the hospital and was told to come back if they got worse or she started vomiting. Two months later, her symptoms had indeed grown worse. Instead of ordering tests or radiological exams to identify a cause for the symptoms, doctors misdiagnosed her with migraine headaches and again sent her home.
Six days later, with a terrible headache, nausea, vision impairment and facial numbness she was taken again went to the hospital. For a third time, doctors ordered no diagnostic tests. They told her parents that it was simply a migraine coupled with sinusitis.
On May 1, the girl went to the emergency room. The ER doctor noticed that she had never undergone brain imaging. Instead of ordering an immediate CT scan the doctor ordered an MRI for a later date.
The child’s condition deteriorated, as she became increasingly unresponsive. She eventually was placed on life support, which her parents removed on May 7.
California law protects Doctors and Hospitals with its one-sided MICRA law. But even MICRA does not protect against repeated acts of medical malpractice.
The advantages that healthcare providers have in litigation when patients assert their legal rights makes it difficult for injured patients to find competent counsel. The Walkup law firm has been representing patients injured by healthcare malpractice for more than 55 years.