Are Lower Risk Heart Patients Given Better Care Than High Risk Patients?

A new study claims high risk heart patients are given different levels of care than lower risk patients.

Failure to diagnose is one of the most common forms of medical malpractice. Failing to diagnose a heart attack can be very serious, even fatal. To avoid fatality, heart attacks must be identified and treated immediately. In an ideal situation a doctor will discover heart issues before they cause serious problems, but this is oftentimes not the case.

A new study has come out that looks at the way different medical facilities treat heart patients. The study more specifically looked at facilities that had higher numbers of patient losses. The study was done by doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. It was done in an effort to understand doctors’ treatment of heart patients with respect to success rates and how to improve the care that doctors prescribe.

The study identified the varying levels of care that doctors used to treat heart patients. For instance, the facilities that had higher numbers of patient deaths provided a different level of care to patients that had conditions that made them higher risk. Heart patients who were very seriously ill in particular were not treated at all.

In many cases, the patients who received inadequate care would require stents put in to alleviate artery blockages. But instead of performing the surgery, if doctors deemed heart patients to have a low sustainability rate, they would not even operate. Rather than providing care for the individual patient, doctors were treating the risk rate.

Because surgery can improve a patient’s survival, only looking at the data on paper regarding a patient’s condition can mean that the patient never gets the care they deserve or need in order to be given a chance. Simply predicting that a surgery will be of no benefit and then not performing any procedure will almost assuredly result in a patient’s condition worsening.

St. Louis Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Patients who have experienced negligence at the hands of a physician may have experienced medical malpractice and should consult with an experienced medical malpractice attorney. Patients deserve to be presented with all of their options and given the best care possible that will give them the best chance of survival and improve their quality of life.

If you or a loved one have a heart condition and have suffered from medical malpractice, contact an experienced St. Louis medical malpractice attorney at the Zevan and Davidson Law Firm to discuss your legal options. It is true that not every story will have a positive outcome but patients should at the very least feel informed about their condition and given choices about their care. Doctors should not preemptively make these decisions because patients are higher risk. This does not mean that in every case where surgery has not been given as an option malpractice has occurred, but in some instances patients could have been provided with better care.

If you believe that you or a loved one may have experienced medical malpractice, contact the Zevan and Davidson Law Firm. We can help.

Call us today at (314) 588-7200 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.

photo credit: Andy G