In this video, attorney Greg Unatin explains how delays in diagnosing congenital heart defects can lead to serious injuries and the need to fil a medical malpractice lawsuit. Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are structural abnormalities present at birth that affect the heart’s proper functioning. While medical advances have improved diagnosis and treatment, delays in identifying CHDs can have severe consequences, including serious injuries or even death. In such cases, the experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Lupetin & Unatin play a crucial role in seeking justice and compensation for affected families.
Medical malpractice may have occurred if a doctor or medical professional fails to diagnose or delay the diagnosis of a baby born with a congenital heart defect. Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect. Heart defects affect approximately eight (8) out of every 1,000 newborns. Each year, more than 35,000 babies in the United States are born with congenital heart defects. This means that approximately 700 babies are born in Pennsylvania each year with heart defects.
The law firm of Lupetin & Unatin has experience handling lawsuits that are a result of a delayed diagnosis of a heart defect. If your child was born with a heart murmur and much later diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, medical malpractice may have been the cause. If your child has sustained a serious injury as a result of a failure or delay in diagnosing a heart defect, you should consult with a qualified medical malpractice lawyer like the attorneys at Lupetin & Unatin, LLC to learn what, if any, options may be available for you and your child. Contact us for a free evaluation.
As with all medical malpractice and birth injury cases that we handle, there is no charge to you unless we are able to recover money for you. The statute of limitations cases that involve an infant or child (called the Minor Tolling Statute) states that if a child is injured by medical malpractice before the age of 18 the two-year statute of limitations does not begin to run until the child reaches the age of 18.
About Congenital Heart Defects – Heart Murmurs Matter
There are many types of congenital heart defects – ranging from simple defects with no symptoms to complex defects with severe, life threatening consequences.
Parents should know that a heart murmur in a newborn is often be the only sign that a baby has a congenital heart defect. Approximately 1% of newborns have a heart murmur. Alarmingly, studies report that 31% to 86% of infants born with a murmur have structural heart disease – i.e. heart defects. This is true even in newborns with no other symptoms other than a heart murmur.
Because of the higher likelihood of potentially devastating structural heart disease in asymptomatic newborns and young infants with heart murmurs, it has been recommended in numerous publications including the American Family Physician that referral to a pediatric cardiologist and/or for echocardiography is recommended. This is because even potentially life threatening heart defects in babies may not be associated with any initial signs or symptoms other than the heart murmur. If your baby is born with a heart murmur, your doctor, (pediatrician or neonatologist) must make sure that your child is evaluated by a pediatric cardiologist and/or scheduled for immediate echocardiography. Failure to do so may be medical malpractice and could result in terrible consequences for the child.
Delayed Or Misdiagnosed Congenital Heart Defects
Delayed or misdiagnosed congenital heart defects can have devastating and lethal consequences for babies. Because of this, prompt medical or surgical intervention is required to give the child the best outcome. Putting aside loss of life, misdiagnosed or delayed diagnosed heart defects can result in a number of crippling injuries including irreversible pulmonary hypertension.
For congenital heart defects like ventricular septal defects, studies show that the sooner repair of the defect is performed the better the child’s outcome. Delay in treatment of ventricular septal defect of more than a year is often associated with irreversible pulmonary hypertension which significantly compromises children’s life expectancy and quality of life.