Can i sue for malpractice or no?

by **vipponah** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:16 am

I have lupus, and take immune suppressing drugs (cellcept, and prednisone) and about 2 months ago i had dental work done to have cavities filled. the dentist is aware of my conditions and drugs because like every dentist they have you fill out those new patient forms asking for your conditions and drugs, etc. Yet they never warned or asked me about going on antibiotics prior to or after the filling, then a month or so later i acquired an infected abscess on my back that required surgery and 6-8 weeks of IV antibiotics which is especially hard to treat while on coumadin and immunosuppressing drugs.

My doctors are leaning towards the dental work as the cause of the infection as its easy for bacteria to gain access to the blood stream during dental work and im very prone to infection. regardless this has caused me to lose 2 weeks of work for hospitilization and much stress, do i have any sort of case to sue for malpractice? or is this just a bad luck sort of thing?

by **edin** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:21 am

you have no proof and you want to sue?sure if you have tons of money to get a lawyer go for it

by **denys** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:24 am

You do not have a prayer!

by **troyes** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:38 am

Of course you can sue. Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Can they win? That is the real question.
Consult a personal injury lawyer who works on a contingency basis. If he won't take your case, then you don't have a case.

Good luck

by **ned** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 5:50 am

You have a responsibility to take care of your own health. Simply filling out a card at the dentist's office isn't taking charge of your own illness, something the dentist probably knows little about.

Think about it, he is a DENTIST not a immunologist or whatever they call them. Regardless, then chances that he knows anything about your disease, it's treatment, drug interactions or anything about your day to day condition is about ZERO! YOU should know this and YOU should have talked to your other doctors about the upcoming dental procedures before going to the dentist for the procedures. YOU should have prepared your dentist for the possibility that you might become ill because of the procedure and discussed in depth the best ways to help prevent such a problem.

Even with that discussion, you are only helping to PREVENT further problems with drug interactions and anything you do is at your own risk.

Your dentist was just doing his job. You don't even know with certainty that procedure absolutely caused your current problems. My sister in law has lupus and it takes so little to aggravate her conditions. I imagine yours is similar.

Yes you can sue. Will you get anything? Maybe. Will is compensate you for your suffering? I doubt it.

Take charge of your own health. Be prepared ahead of time. Only do what is necessary and then only after discussing it with all of your health care professionals. YOU are the one with the condition and YOU didn't do any research ahead of time. Why are you expecting that they should have done so?

by **adusa37** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 6:01 am

You haven't described anything that would give rise to a successful malpractice suit.

1. You don't have a claim because you have doctors who "are leaning" toward an explanation. Litigation requires PROOF, not speculation. So if you don't have a doctor who is saying "X happened because the doctor did or did not do Y" you don't have a claim.

2. Infections are always a possible risk for ANY procedure. In this situation, you developed an infection in a completely different location - not even in your mouth.

3. Your dentist is an expert with regard to your TEETH and your mouth. NOT your lupus. Your complaint should be toward your doctor. Your medical doctor (and not your dentist) is the one who should be telling you that you should use antibiotics any time you undergo any type of procedure that carries a risk of infection. You cannot expect your dentist to become an expert on your lupus. Further, your dentist is not a pharmacologist. If you felt as though antibiotics were indicated, you should have discussed this with your dentist and/or your doctor. You need to be a better advocate for yourself. This maybe so/maybe not situation is not on the dentist, though.

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