Heart Felt? When Doctors and First Responders Fail to Diagnose Heart Attacks

A heart attack (myocardial infarction), is a common but often deadly event. Over one million Americans suffer from heart attacks each year and approximately one in three of these people will die.

During a heart attack, an artery providing the heart with oxygen-rich blood is blocked by blood platelets. The heart thus becomes oxygen deprived and heart muscle cells begin to die. Permanent damage can be caused in a very short time.

Signs & Symptoms

Heart attacks can occur quickly but there may be warning signs and symptoms. These can include:

• Pressure, squeezing, or pain in the chest
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating, nausea, or shortness of breath
• Back, stomach, neck, or jaw pain or discomfort
• Irregular or rapid heart beats

These symptoms may develop over minutes, hours, or days before the heart attack occurs. It is also possible to have a ‘silent’ heart attack, occurring without symptoms, although these are most common in diabetics.

Treatments

Because permanent heart damage, or even death, can occur very quickly after the onset of the heart attack, symptoms should be treated as a medical emergency and treatment sought immediately. There are a number of medications that should be administered by medical health professionals immediately upon even the suspicion of a heart attack. These include:
• Oxygen
• Aspirin
• Beta blockers
• Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors
• Thrombolytic medicines

There are also certain diagnostic tests that should be performed to verify whether a heart attack has occurred and if so, how much damage the heart has sustained.
• Electrocardiogram (ECG, EKG)
• Chest X-Rays
• Blood Tests

Misdiagnosis

Once a doctor or first responder is notified, the key to surviving and recovering from a heart attack is proper diagnosis. Diagnosis is first made based on symptoms, many of which mimic the symptoms of a number of other conditions.
• Angina: Characterized by pain in the chest lasting for a few minutes, angina is a side-effect of coronary artery disease. While abnormal angina can signal the onset of a heart attack, the pain usually passes.
• Heartburn & Indigestion: Pain associated with these common conditions can be mistaken for heart attack pain.

If an improper diagnosis is made based on symptoms, the appropriate medications will not be administered and tests will not be performed. The heart can sustain serious and irreparable damage. People who suffered from, and survived, an undiagnosed heart attack have an increased risk of a second heart attack.

Many heart attacks that go unaddressed or undiagnosed are deadly. The National Institutes of Health estimates that approximately half of the people suffering from heart attacks die will die within an hour of experiencing the first symptoms.

Legal Options

When a heart attack is misdiagnosed and further tests and treatments are not undertaken to rule out the possibility of a heart attack, there may be an issue of medical negligence. Victims may be entitled to compensation for medical bills and pain and suffering incurred as a result of the misdiagnosis. When misdiagnosis of a heart attack results in death, a wrongful death lawsuit may be appropriate.

Diagnosing medical conditions is complicated, and proving a misdiagnosis can be equally so. According to Salt Lake City medical malpractice attorney Ryan Springer of G. Eric Nielson & Associates, the medical field has its own language, which can be impossible to understand for those outside the field. The complexity of the language and issues makes medical malpractice law an area where it is essential to have legal representation skilled in medical malpractice issues.