Legal Assistance for Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose and Treat Pneumonia

Did a medical professional misdiagnose your condition or failed to diagnose a loved one’s condition? Our medical malpractice attorneys are here to help. Call us today for a free case evaluation.

Written and edited by our team of expert legal content writers and reviewed and approved by Daniel Harwin

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Pneumonia is a somewhat common illness in the elderly. Seniors are susceptible to inflammation of the lungs due to viruses or bacteria and can easily contract pneumonia in crowded nursing home settings. Accordingly, facilities should detect symptoms and make timely diagnosis of pneumonia. Prompt treatment is vital for positive prognoses for seniors with pneumonia, as this condition can be fatal.

Failure to diagnose (FTD) pneumonia at a nursing home could be negligence if a reasonable and prudent facility would have recognized the illness and taken action in the same situation.

If a Florida facility failed to diagnose your loved one’s pneumonia case, resulting in medical costs, lost quality of life, or death, contact Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, PL. The sooner you confide in our attorneys, the sooner you can protect your loved one’s rights.

When Is Failure to diagnose Pneumonia Negligence?

Pneumonia occurs among the elderly population more often than other age groups. It is also a more serious health concern in the elderly. Seniors are more likely to suffer severe forms of pneumonia and to be less able to fight off the virus. The dangers of pneumonia in an older person make it that much more important to catch and treat this condition as soon as possible.

It is a nursing home’s legal duty to understand how pneumonia can present itself in the elderly, to perform routine health checks, and to make timely diagnoses through accepted medical standards and practices. Symptoms of pneumonia in seniors can include coughing, discolored or bloody phlegm or mucus, fever and chills, shortness of breath, chest pain, headache, confusion, lethargy, and excessive sweating. As soon as a nurse or staff member notices any potential symptoms of pneumonia, he or she should take due care to evaluate the nursing home resident and take appropriate action.

Failure to follow the accepted protocols for detecting and diagnosing pneumonia, resulting in resident illness or death, is negligence. Negligence in the eyes of Florida law can encompass any act or failure to act that does not fulfill the individual’s duty of care to the injured person. To prove negligence, we must show that the nursing home or one of its employees reasonably should have recognized the condition and taken action, yet failed to do so, and that this breach of duty caused your damage or those of a loved one. A lawyer can be a significant asset in proving negligence in a failure to diagnose case.

How Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, PL, Can Help

Pneumonia does not have to be deadly for your elderly loved one. Unfortunately, nursing home neglect and a staff that’s too busy, overworked, understaffed or uncaring can result in failure to diagnose pneumonia and a worsened outcome for the victim. If you have reason to believe that the nursing home should have diagnosed you or a loved one’s pneumonia sooner and that timely diagnosis would have made a difference in your current health or the death of a loved one, talk to our personal injury attorneys right away.

The legal team at Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, PL, has won more than $2 billion in settlements and judgment awards for clients over the years and may be able to add you to its list of successful cases. Our clients benefit from years of experience, genuine compassion, and plenty of legal resources when they retain our law firm. When you need aggressive litigators to get to the bottom of an FTD pneumonia case, count on us. Request your free consultation today to learn more.

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