Medical Malpractice: Stroke Misdiagnosis
Approximately 780,000 strokes will occur this year; however 500,000 of those strokes can be prevented. — National Stroke Association
What Is a Stroke?
A stroke occurs when the flow of oxygen to the brain is cut off. Nearly 85 percent of strokes are caused by a blood clot or other obstruction in an artery. About 15 percent of strokes are caused by a blood vessel that breaks and leaks blood into the brain.
Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the country, after heart disease and cancer. About 160,000 people die of stroke each year, and it is the leading cause of disability in adults.
Representing Victims of Stroke Misdiagnosis
If you or a loved one suffered a stroke because of misdiagnosis of your symptoms or failure of medical professionals to respond to them in a timely manner, please contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, PC.
Our lawyers have successfully represented people who went to the emergency room with symptoms of stroke but were turned away and sent home, where they later suffered a stroke that left them permanently disabled.
For example, mental confusion and trouble speaking or understanding are among the warning signs of stroke. Yet emergency room doctors often mistake these symptoms in older people for dementia. It is a mistake that patients may pay for with their lives.
We also represent clients who have had smaller strokes, called transient ischemic attacks or TIAs, who were not properly diagnosed, treated or monitored and later experienced a full stroke. In addition, we represent survivors of those who died because of a stroke misdiagnosis.
Every Minute Counts
Failure to diagnose stroke symptoms in a timely manner can make the difference between full recovery and permanent disability or death. A drug called tPA can dissolve blood clots in the vascular system of the brain. This drug therapy can stop many types of stroke in their tracks, allowing patients to walk away unharmed. But the clot-busting medication must be administered within three hours of the onset of symptoms.
Warning Signs of Stroke
If you experience any of these warning signs of stroke, please call 911 immediately:
- Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
- Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
- Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
- Sudden, severe headache with no known cause
From offices in Bridgeport, Stamford, Danbury and New Haven, Connecticut, our medical malpractice lawyers represent clients throughout the state.
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