Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart or cardiovascular problems. The doctors charged with treating these problems are known as cardiologists. They are concerned with diagnosing and treating conditions like congenital heart defects, coronary heart defects, electrophysiology, heart failure, valvular heart disease, etc. Before a person can be certified as a cardiologist, that person must have been duly licensed to practice. However, even with all the necessary precautions that are in place to ensure that patients with heart conditions get adequate care, cardiology malpractice sometimes occurs, which can lead to numerous complications and disasters.
A cardiology malpractice attorney at the Weitz Firm, LCC, pointed out that “while it cannot be said that all deaths from heart disease are preventable, many of them are, which is why there is an ever-increasing number of medical malpractice lawsuits against cardiologists who failed to provide appropriate care and treatment, which led to complications or even death.”
An attorney can seek to use medical animation if cardiology malpractice needs to be established before a court.
Types of Cardiology Malpractice Cases Where Medical Animation Can Be Used
The heart is a delicate organ that can only be left in the care of those who have been licensed and deemed qualified in that field. If due diligence is not taken in the treatment of the heart, it can lead to disastrous results such as complications or even death.
By nature, heart-related cases may, from time to time, require the use of demonstrative evidence to help bypass the technicalities present in medical parlance.
Thus, medical animation is a tool an attorney can use to show the harm caused to the patient due to the doctor’s negligence.
Here are the types of cardiology malpractice cases wherein medical animation would prove helpful:
- Misdiagnosis, failure to make a diagnosis, or delayed diagnosis
Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, and delayed diagnosis are responsible for many heart disease complications today.
According to Medical News Today, infections, cancers, and vascular events are the three types of conditions responsible for nearly three-quarters of all ‘serious harm’ related to misdiagnosis.
These three diseases were referred to as the ‘big three”. Dr. David Newman-Toker (Ph.D.), Director of the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence, in the article, stated that “if we devoted appropriate resources to tackling misdiagnosis of the ‘big three’ diseases we identified, we could potentially save half the people who die or are permanently disabled from diagnostic errors.”
In a cardiology malpractice case born out of diagnosis error, the opposing party may want to assert that with or without a diagnosis, the patient’s case would still have deteriorated as it is seen to be at the time of instituting such action.
It is the duty of the expert witness, in this case, to point out the error in such assertion and ensure that the members of the jury realize that the correct diagnosis or quick diagnosis would have helped the patient.
In doing so, the expert witness can take advantage of the demonstrative feature of legal animation.
- The improper implant of a stent
Firstly, what is a stent?
In an article by WebMD, a stent is referred to as “a tiny tube that can play a big role in treating heart disease. It helps keep the arteries – the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the other parts of the body, including the heart muscle itself- open.”
When a stent is improperly implanted, it poses significant harm to the patient. The wrong implant must be detected as soon as possible to prevent imminent harm to such a patient.
In the unfortunate event where the improper use of a stent is not discovered early and later causes complications or even death to a patient, the expert witness has to help the jury understand the proper implantation of stents and why the stent being used for the victim could have been implanted wrongly.
With medical animation, this can be illustrated quickly and without much hassle.
- Medical and surgical errors during heart surgery
Different surgeries are performed on the heart as per each case’s requirements.
Examples of heart surgeries include coronary artery bypass, heart valve repair, heart transplant, and valve placement. In all of these surgeries, popularly recognized methods and procedures are used for the type of condition a patient may face.
If the wrong method is used, the patient would be placed at significant risk.
Similarly, if a costly mistake is made in the course of the surgery, the patient is at risk of further complications or even death. This is why cardiologists have to exercise the highest level of care.
To prove the mistakes made during surgery, medical animation can be used to portray the procedures of the surgery and how they caused harm to the victim.
Conclusion
To ensure that your medical animation is deemed admissible in a court of law, you need the services of an experienced medical animation company that can assist you in producing admissible evidence.
