STROKE MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE
DELAY IN DIAGNOSIS OF ENDOCARDITIS RESULTING IN STROKE AND CORTICAL BLINDNESS
John Whelan Solicitor with specialist expertise in Stroke Medical Negligence gives a case example of delays in diagnosis of Endocarditis resulting in Stroke and Cortical Blindness.
A medical incident involving a delay in treatment causing harm typically occurs when a Patient does not receive the necessary care in a timely manner, leading to significant deterioration of their condition. This can happen in emergencies or situations where timely intervention is crucial, such as in cases of heart attack, stroke, sepsis, or trauma.
A Patient presents repeatedly with persistent fever, malaise, night sweats and a new or known cardiac murmur. The Patient has risk factors for infective endocarditis. Despite repeated attendances, clinicians treat the symptoms as a viral illness and fail to obtain appropriate blood cultures or arrange timely echocardiography/referral. The Patient's endocarditis remains untreated for several weeks. A vegetation subsequently embolises to the cerebral circulation, producing bilateral occipital infarctions. The Patient survives but is left with permanent cortical visual impairment/blindness, together with cognitive and neurological deficits.
The negligence allegation would be that, on the balance of probabilities, competent clinicians would have suspected endocarditis earlier, investigated and treated it, and that timely antibiotic treatment would probably have prevented the embolisation and consequent brain injury.
The causation evidence would usually be the critical part. It would not be enough to establish merely that there was a delay. Medical experts would need to address whether, at the point of the alleged negligent delay, treatment would probably have prevented the embolic event and resulting visual loss.
For more detailed insights into how Stroke Medical Negligence and Patient Safety impacts you and how Whelan Law can support you, please visit our Patient Safety Rights Legal Advice https://www.whelanlaw.ie/news/stroke-medical-negligence-claims-what-you-need-to-know/