4-Year-Old Boy Dies in Failure to Diagnose Case
Posted in Medical Malpractice on July 25, 2014
Personal Injury Attorney Arthur Elk recounts the tragic story of a young boy who died due to a doctor’s failure to properly diagnose a serious medical condition.
As a parent, one of the worst things that can happen is for one of your children to suffer through a serious injury or harm. It’s devastating and heartbreaking.
Dealing with a sick child can be exhausting, especially when doctors and nurses are trying to sort out what’s wrong. But what happens when the doctor fails to diagnose your child correctly and sends them home?
Such was the case for one of our clients who brought in his very sick child. The boy was lethargic and covered in a rash. The doctor assumed it was the flu and sent the child home. Unfortunately, what he missed was a very serious case of bacterial meningitis that continued to plague the boy once he went home.
Later, the father returned to the emergency room in a frantic state with his young son who had fallen unconscious. He pleaded with the staff to provide his son with medical care. Doctors eventually determined the boy had bacterial meningitis, but by that time it was too late and the child passed away. While bacterial meningitis is a very serious condition that can sometimes result in death, it is treatable if detected. The signs and symptoms were there for the doctor to see and he failed to do so. As a result, this young boy died.
Failure to diagnose cases are not as rare as one may think. We often come across cases in which a doctor or health professional failed to diagnose a condition correctly or at all whether it was a severe infection like bacterial meningitis or a case of cancer. The harm caused by many diseases can be mitigated and sometimes prevented if detected early. A patient’s outlook and prognosis are much worse when a mistake is made by their treating health professional. Unfortunately, in some cases, a doctor’s failure to diagnose can result in a needless death. As experienced attorneys, we can review all of the medical records to reveal the truth about how you or a loved one was injured due to a failure to diagnose case.
To learn more about personal injury law, I encourage you to watch the video above and to explore our educational website at www.elkandelk.com. If you have legal questions, please call us at 1-800-ELK-OHIO. I welcome your call.