Q: Could I potentially have a malpractice claim?
Went to ER with abdominal pain. They only did a pelvic US & pregnancy test. No bloodwork. Doctor felt my stomach & said it was a gynecological issue & when I asked if it could be appendicitis he said no since the pain was lower than appendix pain. Told me to follow up with OBGYN although I just had my annual exam the day before. Insisted it was nothing urgent or life threatening. 5 days later went back to OB & symptoms had progressed. Said it was not an OBGYN issue but ordered bloodwork & CT since something was clearly wrong. Findings were a ruptured appendix with abscess/infection. Had emergency surgery, attempted laparoscopically but converted to open surgery halfway through due to difficulty of surgery & location of infection. Resulted in major abdominal surgery. Have had complications with liver function & stomach ulcers post surgery. OBGYN, Surgeon & PCP all said he was being lazy by not ordering bloodwork to check WBC, a standard test that usually leads to appendicitis diagnosis
A:
Sorry to hear about your situation and the complications you are experiencing. Clearly, you have suffered damages. The question will be whether the staff at the initial ER visit deviated from the standard level of care and due to their alleged mistake in failure to diagnosis, you were harmed.
Most medical malpractice cases require an expert doctor to testify and state there was negligence on behalf of the ER and staff and that negligence caused your harm. I strongly suggest you contact an experienced personal injury and medical malpractice attorney to further discuss whether you have a viable claim.
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