Kentucky Medical Malpractice: Failure to diagnose aortic dissection
Medical Malpractice News: Lawyers for the family of actor John Ritter will proceed to trial today in their claim that his death could have been prevented. Learn more about the case: LA Times NBC Today Show Interview with John Ritter's widow
Make no mistake about it, aortic dissection is a dire emergency requiring immediate medical intervention.
In the Kentucky medical malpractice cases involving failure to diagnose aortic dissection cases I have handled, one of the key issues is the time between the failure to diagnose and the death of the victim. In other words, was there enough time to make a difference? Based on conversations I have had with experts on the subject, cardiologists and thoracic surgeons, if the misdiagnosis and the death are more than an hour or two apart, it is virtually certain that there was enough time to treat the condition appropriately and prevent the patient from dying.
I assume this will be one of the key issues in the Ritter case.