Incidents of cardiology malpractice do not always involve failure to diagnose or errors made during surgery. Sometimes the negligence occurs in the way post surgery care is handled. Surgery involving the heart is extremely serious; a medical professional cannot just operate, stitch you up and fail to provide adequate care afterward. These types of things need to be closely monitored. Medications may need to be adjusted, your progress needs to be evaluated and complications could occur.
For example, one San Francisco cardiologist was found guilty of malpractice because of negligent mistakes he made after performing heart surgery on a woman. He had prescribed daily doses of the drug Coumadin to thin her blood and prevent clotting, but then failed to monitor her closely after the surgery. He ordered one clotting test on her blood three days after she was released from the hospital. After that, though, he didn't schedule a follow-up test for three or four more weeks. Even when she went to his office a little more than a week after the first test with a rash, he still did not conduct another blood test. Her family called a week after that and said she was very lethargic and lost her appetite—still no blood test. A week after that phone call, the woman was found unconscious and bleeding. She died the next morning. It was determined that the doctor was guilty of malpractice. If he had conducted more frequent blood clotting tests, he would have discovered that her blood was overly thinned by the Coumadin. It was the drug he prescribed that eventually caused her fatal internal bleeding.
If you underwent a seemingly successful heart procedure, but feel the aftercare was sub-par, you may still have a case for cardiology malpractice. The bottom line is that your doctor must provide a certain standard of care and make decisions that most other medical professionals would in his or her situation. If you think you are a victim of cardiology malpractice in Texas, Arkansas or Oklahoma, contact Girards Law for a free consultation at 888-897-2762.