Pittsburgh Medical Malpractice Blog

According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease is America's No. 1 killer. Stroke is No. 3 and a leading cause of serious disability. That's why it's so important to reduce your risk factors, know the warning signs, and know how to respond quickly and properly if warning signs occur.

Heart Attack Warning Signs

Some heart attacks are sudden and intense — the "movie heart attack," where no one doubts what's happening. But most heart attacks start slowly, with mild pain or discomfort. Often people affected aren't sure what's wrong and wait too long before getting help. Here are signs that can mean a heart attack is happening:·

Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.

Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.

Shortness of breath. May occur with or without chest discomfort.

Other signs: These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness

In many instances, a heart attack may go undiagnosed. Many patients are sent home without being properly diagnosed. Take the case of James Pettry.

When chest pain woke James Pettry early one morning this spring, his wife, Mary, found him sitting on their bed, short of breath and sweating profusely. She dialed 911.In the five minutes it took for an ambulance to reach their home in Lafayette, Ind., on April 28, the seriousness of her husband's condition hit Mary. "I thought he was having a heart attack," she says.

The paramedic, who gave Pettry oxygen and aspirin and then used an electrocardiogram machine to examine the heart's electrical function, agreed. The ambulance crew whisked Pettry 3 miles to St. Elizabeth Medical Center. The doctor in the emergency room, Edward Seall, disagreed with the paramedic. After running more tests, he sent Pettry home nearly five hours later, saying Pettry just had anxiety. The patient was advised to follow up with his doctors but to return if his chest pain became worse. Pettry, 74, was dead the next day, one of thousands who perish each year when their heart attacks are undetected by doctors.

The retired salesman, a father and grandfather, died from severely clogged arteries while sitting in his easy chair within 24 hours of being discharged, according to an autopsy report. In part because there is no foolproof test, one in 50 heart attack victims are mistakenly sent home by emergency room doctors, researchers from New England Medical Center in Boston reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in April 2000. Other studies have documented higher rates of missed heart attack diagnosis.

According to a report filed by The Henry Kaiser Family Foundation, physician errors are a factor in about 60% of medical malpractice claims that involved patients allegedly injured because of missed or delayed diagnoses, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. For the study, researchers at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston reviewed 307 claims from four large malpractice insurers that were closed between 1984 and 2004, 181 of which involved alleged diagnostic errors that injured patients.

Seeking out medical malpractice advice can be a complicated task. If you think that you or a loved one has suffered from physician malpractice, then you need to consult with a legal professional. The medical malpractice law firm of Rosen Louik & Perry, P.C.has successfully represented individuals against doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes and assisted living homes in medical malpractice cases.

Resources
USA Today.com
The Kaiser Family Network
American Heart Association