Adult: Professional AffairsMedical malpractice litigations involving aortic dissection
Graphical abstract
Section snippets
Search Methodology
The online Westlaw legal research service (Thomson Reuters, Eagan, Minn) was used to compile medical malpractice litigations involving aortic dissection. Westlaw consists of more than 40,000 online legal databases, with judicial documents including court rulings, dockets, verdict summaries, appellate court documents, trial court memoranda, appellate decisions, settlement summaries, pretrial statements, and legal commentaries. Both US federal court and state court documents are accessible in the
Search Results
The Westlaw database search with the term “aortic/s dissection” resulted in 184 litigations. Of these litigations, 29 litigations were duplicates, 11 litigations did not involve medical malpractice, and 9 litigations did not involve aortic dissection. Litigations not involving medical malpractice but had the term “aortic/s dissection” were all litigations relating to vehicular accidents. Litigations not involving aortic dissection were medical malpractice cases in which a physician's note,
Discussion
Medical malpractice litigations arise when the patient or their family believes the medical care they received deviated from an acceptable standard of care. In demanding and time-sensitive circumstances, such as the treatment of aortic dissection, the acceptable standard of medical care can be overshadowed by the ultimate outcome to patients and their families. Therefore, an unfavorable outcome sustained by the patient, such as death, can induce a family to file a medical malpractice litigation
Conclusions
Aortic dissection is a potentially fatal condition that is often misdiagnosed and consequently associated with significant amounts of stress and fear for patients, and a poor outcome, even in the presence of excellent care. This can induce patients or their families to file medical malpractice claims despite an absence of acts conducted by defendant physicians who have deviated from an accepted standard of care. Accurate and timely diagnosis and treatment of aortic dissection in a patient with
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