According to the Mayo Clinic, “atrial fibrillation (‘AFib’) is an irregular and often rapid heart rate that can increase your risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.” When a patient is experiencing AFib, the heart’s two upper chambers of the heart beat chaotically and irregularly, not in unison with the lower two chambers. The symptoms of AFib include, but are not limited to shortness of breath, weakness and heart palpitations.
In a recent medical malpractice lawsuit, a 63 year-old patient who had long suffered from bouts of AFib presented to a cardiologist who was covering for his own regular doctor, who was on vacation, for an emergency appointment for a flare-up of his AFib. If not properly treated, this condition can cause an accumulation of blood in the heart’s atrial chamber causing increased risk of an embolus and a stroke. Although his regular doctor usually placed him on the medication Coumadin to treat such symptoms, on this visit, the cardiologist allegedly ignored the patient’s past successful history with Coumadin, determined the patient was a low risk for an embolic event and placed him on a high dose of aspirin with instructions to follow up a week later.
A week later, the patient followed up as instructed with his regular cardiologist and was still experiencing symptoms of AFib. He immediately was placed on Coumadin and sent home. However, as his lawyers alleged, the cardiologist failed to recognize that Coumadin would not reach therapeutic levels for several days and with a history of one week of AFib, the drug Heparin was needed to “bridge the gap” until Coumadin reached a therapeutic level.
A day later, the patient suffered a stroke while at home and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, which was a certified stroke center. Although it was determined that he was a good candidate for tPA (a drug that can help to minimize the effects of a stroke), he instead was given an experimental stroke medication called Tenecteplace (TNK) typically used for acute myocardial infarction. After the medication error was discovered, the patient was emergently transferred to another hospital in hopes that an embolectomy (surgical removal of emboli which are blocking blood circulation) would be performed. Unfortunately, after arrival at the second hospital, the stroke team was not notified for an hour and by the time the team was assembled, the stroke was too large for an embolectomy to be performed. Of course, the defense took the position that the one-hour delay did not cause any additional injury.
As the result of the stroke, the patient suffered hemiparesis (weakness of entirety of one side of the body) and aphasia (a communication disorder that results from brain damages) and now requires round-the-clock care at home. The patient’s medical malpractice attorneys were able to obtain funds from the physicians and hospitals involved totaling $4.5 million to settle this case prior to trial.
Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys are well-versed in the areas of stroke and atrial fibrillation. If you think you may have medical malpractice case for this, or any other type of injury, call us today for a free consultation at 410-385-2225.