Precedence of Fatal Stroke while in the hospital?

by **montrel68** » Sat May 05, 2012 9:01 pm

My 38 year old spouse was admitted to the Emergency Room for treatment of presumed ketoacidosis. 36 hours later, she died from a massive ischemic stroke. The hospital had plenty of time to administer anti-clotting and anticoagulent medication to prevent a stroke of this magnitude. Is there any legal precedence finding a hospital or medical practitioner liable for malpractice or wrongful death in such a situation?

by **taillefer** » Sat May 05, 2012 9:07 pm

No.

Negligence is required. Doctors are not required to be magic.

by **fychan97** » Sat May 05, 2012 9:15 pm

Ketoacidosis if generally cause by one of two different things. The most common is uncontrolled diabetes. The second and far less common cause is alcohol abuse.

Either of these situations place her at a vary high risk for stroke, hear attack and other complications. it is imposable for a doctor to foresee and treat her for all of the possible complications.

Most of the time the problem is uncontrolled diabetes that has been out of control for years. Generally, the patient has had symptoms and has ignored them, or is under medical care and refuses to stick to their diet and medication regimen (which, admittedly is not that easy).

If this is the case then the sad truth is that the majority of the blame for her death falls on her. she did it to herself.

by **thacher** » Sat May 05, 2012 9:20 pm

Sorry, the hospital could not have known that she was going to have a stroke. There was no negligence on their part.

by **sheridan93** » Sat May 05, 2012 9:30 pm

First of all - I'm very sorry for your loss.

They don't have crystal balls and would not have foreseen the stroke.

And you even say "presumed ketoacidosis" which leads one to believe it hadn't been diagnosed yet. Which means they hadn't decided on a course of treatment. Which they don't until blood, urine and all the tests are in. They don't diagnose and treat on "presumed" illnesses. Or they would be in bigger trouble.

If - on admission - they gave a bunch of preventative drugs unnecessarily - "just in case" and there was a bad reaction to all that - you would be out here asking why they drugged her up without knowing what was wrong.

If she had to go to ER for this - it begs the question on how she was treating her health in the first place.

I don't think you have much of a case. But you can always consult an attorney.

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