Heart Attack: Delayed Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis; How Can It Happen?

Men, women, and individuals from all walks of life in the United States are all at risk for heart disease, the leading cause of mortality. According to the CDC, cardiovascular disease is responsible for the death of one American every 36 seconds, and every 40 seconds, someone has a heart attack in the United States. It translates to about 805,000 heart attacks each year. About one-fifth of all cardiac arrests are silent, meaning the victim isn’t aware they’re about to occur.

What is a Myocardial Infarction (MI): Heart Attack?

In the event of a heart attack, also known as an acute myocardial infarction (MI), the blood supply to arteries is reduced or cut off entirely, leading to damage to its muscle. Emergency department personnel and doctors should always be alert for signs that a patient suffers from a heart attack. Most individuals who have a heart attack and are promptly diagnosed and treated can make a full recovery and resume their everyday lives.

Unfortunately, even though it is a prevalent medical emergency, the MI problem is often neglected or incorrectly diagnosed. The consequences of not getting treatment are often lifelong incapacity or death. Some myocardial infarction victims are sent home without being identified or treated due to emergency department medical misconduct, putting their lives in grave danger.

How Doctors Diagnose a Heart Attack

It’s common for plaques to grow over time due to the building up of fatty deposits, particularly cholesterol, which narrows the arteries. When a coronary artery is blocked, the channel that supplies oxygen to the heart becomes thicker, increasing the risk of blood clots. An attack occurs when the heart is unable to pump oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. When this happens, the cardiac cells die, and proteins are released into the circulation.

However, preventing a heart attack begins with the early detection of the condition. The following are common danger signs of cardiovascular disease:

Tightness in the chest
High triglycerides (cholesterol)
Unhealthy body mass (obesity)
thumping in the chest
Heartbeat irregularity
Arms feel numb.
Breathing problems
An unexplained feeling of exhaustion.
High blood pressure or hypertension
Diabetic neuropathy

Detecting these signs may be done with simple blood pressure and heart rate reading. It is necessary to acquire the patient’s medical history to determine whether they are predisposed to heart attacks.

A doctor may prescribe or execute some critical tests to make a proper and, ideally, early diagnosis of a heart attack or heart disease. These are only a few examples:

A cardiac electrocardiogram (EKG): It may detect an irregular heartbeat hence any potential for disaster.

An ECG is a visual representation of the heart’s electrical activity that reveals any damage-related anomalies. It is critical in determining whether or not a patient has an illness that will need them to visit the hospital’s emergency department.

Doctors must know when to order the ECG and how to interpret the results. Failure to correctly read the ECG results can constitute what is called “doctor negligence.”

Blood test: The high level of the c-reactive protein (CRP) and the high amount of cholesterol is linked to several risk factors, including increased levels of artery inflammation and calcification, or constriction of the coronary arteries, as measured by this test. Blood tests may also detect high enzymes (creatine phosphokinase and cardiac troponin) when the heart muscles become injured.

Coronary Angiography and Cardiac Catheterization: An imaging procedure that uses a tiny, flexible catheter put into a vein in the lower abdomen to inject a particular dye into a coronary artery to identify a blockage or clot.

Echocardiogram: It is another vital device in the management of heart conditions. When the heart’s walls and valves are working correctly, an echocardiogram will show how well they are doing.

CT Scan: Radiologists use a CT scan (high-speed scanning) to look for signs of calcification or constriction of the coronary arteries.

Thallium stress test: Treadmill stress tests or at-rest thallium stress tests uses a specific dye to improve photographic pictures of the heart while moving or at rest.

Failure to utilize these devices and resources to diagnose a heart attack may lead to negligence litigation, resulting in harsh fines and large settlements. Doctors should also identify any differences across various groups and if any of those groups are susceptible to having a heart attack.

In particular, women are more likely to be misdiagnosed or fail to be diagnosed with a heart attack. Their symptoms vary from males and because of the widespread belief that heart attacks are uncommon in women. Even in younger girls, heart attacks may go unnoticed despite the presence of the warning signs. It often is a recipe for medical negligence lawsuits.

How Is It Possible for a Heart Attack to Go Unnoticed?

A heart attack is usually shown as a rapid, dramatic collapse in which a person clutches their chest in agony and falls to the ground. Problems arise, however, when it is sometimes easy to mistake a heart attack for something else. Here are the common instances that can lead to a failure to diagnose a heart attack:

Minor Symptoms: In some instances, the physical symptoms and signs of a cardiac arrest are so modest and restricted in a form that physicians do not even evaluate the possibility of a heart attack. Physicians may not even order a heart exam when a heart attack victim merely experiences nausea or extreme exhaustion.

Carelessness: Heart attack misdiagnosis is most often in the ER or at a patient’s primary care provider’s office. Sometimes, when a doctor is not keen, mild heart attack symptoms might be mistaken for those of more prevalent diseases, leading to a misdiagnosis. Misdiagnosis of a heart attack as acid reflux, asthma, bronchitis, panic disorder, and other common ailments is common.

EKG is Normal: Doctors utilize an electrocardiogram to detect a heart attack as the first test. A doctor can mistakenly rule out the possibility of a heart attack if an EKG test results in regular reading. . A doctor’s trust in EKGs can be excessive since they aren’t reliable diagnostic instruments.

Atypical Patient: Medical practitioners tend to stereotype people when it comes to determining heart attack risk. Older men with a history of cardiovascular disease or linked disorders, such as high blood pressure or excessive cholesterol, are typical heart disease victims. Doctors also tend to rule out a heart attack if the client is a woman, young, and otherwise healthy.

A Misdiagnosis of a Heart Attack: How Can It Happen?

Heart attack misdiagnosis isn’t only caused by a lack of awareness of the symptoms. Since they don’t match the usual image, the victims are often completely ignored by medical personnel. Because of this, heart attack misdiagnosis is more common in younger persons and women. In the past, doctors assumed that women were less susceptible to heart attacks than males. Misdiagnosis may be caused by several circumstances, including:

The inability to get a complete medical history
Failing to conduct a comprehensive physical exam
A lack of concern for people who seem to be in good health
Failure to recognize a heart attack in people under the age of 65
Heart problems in women are often overlooked because of a lack of awareness.
As a result of a lack of urgency in requesting testing,
A heart attack that goes undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or is misunderstood
Lack of promptness in seeking the advice of cardiac specialists
A doctor can misread EKG data if they are not read correctly.
Putting too much faith on EKG findings
Inaccuracies in the lab

What Constitutes ” Medical Malpractice” In Cases Involving Heart Attacks?

Since a heart attack can be misdiagnosed as other common conditions, you must evaluate every instance on its surrounding circumstances and facts. An accurate medical diagnosis and treatment plan still relies heavily on a thorough but short physical exam at each patient’s first. The history should concentrate on the risk of coronary heart disease (family medical history, past heart diseases, medication interactions, person alcoholism and drug use, tobacco, etc.) and the primary complaint that drew the patient to the health facility or urgent care.

If a physician determines that the patient with chest discomfort is not experiencing a heart attack at the time, they should not send the patient home without being sure of what the condition really is. If they do, and the patient suffers a heart attack, it can amount to medical negligence. A patient is a danger even if they have a minor level of ischemia. Even at the thousands of small community hospitals, many diagnostic and treatment options are accessible.

The bottom-line with a heart attack delayed diagnosis

New standards, policies, and procedures are being used to evaluate and treat individuals with chest discomfort. A misdiagnosis may lead to high medical expenses, missed pay, and time spent away from a loved one, which can all be avoided with the help of these new technologies. However, overreliance on a technology known to be unreliable or using unorthodox methods to treat a patient can constitute medical malpractice. When a heart attack goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, it may lead to death, and it can attract heavy legal penalties in terms of monetary damages, as well as suspension of a doctor’s license.