Maryland medical malpractice attorney Marcus Boston talks about how a doctor can misdiagnose a stroke in a patient.
In some instances strokes are misdiagnosed because the symptoms of a stroke can sometimes mirror those of other issues. This is why it is very important that your doctor take the time and do a through neurological workup when a patient explains or displays certain symptoms. In addition, doctors are taught to rule out the most serious conditions first, and then work their way down to the less serious conditions.
For example, there was a recent story on the internet regarding a patient who visited his family doctor and told the doctor that he was have serious problems with headaches and dizzy spells. This patient did not have any history of bad headaches or dizzy spells. The doctor did not perform a neurological workup and sent the patient home with some medication for an ear ache.
The doctor had concluded that the patient was suffering from an ear infection. The very next day the patient went back to his doctor but this time he had slurred speech and was exhibiting facial drooping. He was then rushed to the hospital and an MRI and complete neurological was performed.
It was there that it was discovered that the patient had been suffering from a stroke. But due to the delay and misdiagnosis of the stroke initially, there was very little that could be done at this point to prevent paralysis.
So why am I sharing this with you? Because chances you or a loved one has had a stroke misdiagnosed. Chances are you want to talk with someone. Here’s what you can do. Pick up the phone and give me a call. I can be reached at 301-850-4832. Or, if you think that an email will work better initially, send me an email to medicalinjury “at” bostonlawllc.com (Remember to replace the “at” with @. We write the email like this to combat email spammers). We answer questions like yours all the time and we would be glad to hear your story.