Q: Potential medical malpractice suit, no interest from attorneys.
My girlfriend went to the ER with severe abdominal pain and was sent home with only blood and urine tests conducted and a misdiagnosis of a urinary tract infection with instructions to consult her primary care physician the following day. She was rushed back to the hospital the following morning and came to find out that she had actually had appendicitis, and her appendix ended up rupturing overnight after being sent home, putting her in a life and death situation and necessitating emergency surgery the following day. Lawyers don't seem interested, noting that she needed the appendix removed anyway, but that isn't the case we are attempting to make. It is that she went to the hospital seeking help and was turned away without proper testing being done nor appropriate help being provided, resulting in a much more severe issue. I can provide more details via e-mail (character limit). We have all necessary documentation and charts from the hospital. Why will no one take this case?
A:
You can consult a few more attorneys--members of the NJ Justice Assn provide free consults. The problem is that it is expensive to bring a malpractice case, and her damages are not equal to the costs of bringing that type of claim.
However, if she is being asked to pay the first hospital bill she should ask to talk to the risk manager and point out that she eneded up with higher costs because the ER staff missed the diagnosis.
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