Meningitis is a medical emergency. It must be treated like an emergency with rapid diagnosis and treatment. When doctors fail in this regard, patients suffer harm — usually in the form of permanent brain damage, hearing loss, neurological injuries, or wrongful death.
If you or a loved one suffered serious harm because meningitis was misdiagnosed or improperly treated, the Las Cruces misdiagnosis lawyers at Coates & Johnson, PLLC can help you seek accountability. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation to learn whether you have a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Why Choose Coates & Johnson, PLLC to Handle Your Meningitis Misdiagnosis Case?
Meningitis malpractice claims are a niche area within the already niche practice area of medical negligence. They require attorneys with dedicated experience handling malpractice claims, ones who know how to uncover malpractice at the highest and lowest levels of medical care.
Clients choose our Coates & Johnson, PLLC, for their medical negligence litigation because:
- Our Las Cruces medical malpractice lawyers have handled complex medical malpractice and delayed diagnosis cases for decades
- One of our founding attorneys has medical training and litigation experience, which sets us apart from other personal injury and medical malpractice firms.
- We partner with highly qualified physicians and specialists who can break down how malpractice occurred and how it cost you
- Our partners are involved in every case and help prepare each claim for trial, even if we expect the claim to resolve during negotiations.
Ready to learn more? Contact us today for help with your claim.
What is Meningitis?
Meningitis involves inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. The condition is usually caused by infections — bacterial, viral, or fungal. It is commonly associated with children and adolescents/teenagers, but it can affect anyone.
Challengingly, early-stage meningitis has symptoms that are common to many health conditions, from influenza to a stomach virus. It is one of the top ten misdiagnosed (and delayed diagnosed) conditions in the medical field.
Why Having An Attorney Provides the Best Odds of a Successful Case
Determining whether doctors responded appropriately to a meningitis situation usually requires a close review of the patient’s symptoms, testing, treatment timeline, and overall condition. Each of these generally requires analysis from attorneys and medical specialists.
An attorney can help investigate whether providers failed to recognize warning signs or delayed important testing and treatment. This often involves:
- Reviewing emergency room and hospital records
- Consulting infectious disease and emergency medicine experts
- Analyzing whether symptoms were dismissed or misinterpreted
- Determining whether earlier treatment likely would have changed the outcome
- Evaluating the long-term physical, neurological, and financial impact of the illness
- Handling negotiations with hospitals and insurance companies
- Filing a lawsuit when necessary to pursue full compensation
If you’re wondering how else a meningitis misdiagnosis attorney in Las Cruces can help, reach out to us today to schedule a free consultation.
Meningitis Symptoms That Should Have Triggered Further Testing
Meningitis can present as many other sicknesses. However, certain symptoms should trigger additional testing to determine if a patient has the condition, especially if they are in the age or risk brackets associated with it.
Symptoms commonly include:
- Severe headache
- Fever
- Neck stiffness
- Nausea and vomiting
- Confusion
- Sensitivity to light
- Seizures
- Altered mental status
- Lethargy or irritability in children
Meningitis can progress rapidly. Therefore, physicians often must act quickly to order appropriate testing and begin treatment. Failures to recognize symptoms or provide antibiotics/other care early on can lead to severe (and sometimes fatal) complications for the patient.
Establishing Liability for a Meningitis Misdiagnosis Under New Mexico Law
When emergency room providers fail to recognize the signs of meningitis, patients may suffer devastating and permanent injuries. Under New Mexico law, patients may have a medical malpractice claim against any provider who failed to diagnose meningitis and related complications in a timely manner.
A successful claim must show four elements:
- The patient must show that the healthcare provider failed to appropriately evaluate symptoms commonly associated with meningitis.
- The patient must demonstrate that the provider failed to take steps that a reasonably competent emergency physician would have taken under similar circumstances.
- The missed or delayed diagnosis must have caused the infection to progress, resulting in injuries that likely could have been prevented through earlier intervention.
- The patient must have experienced financial losses resulting from the misdiagnosis, including medical treatment, lost income, pain and suffering, etc.
A successful claim must also be filed on time. In most cases, New Mexico law has a three-year deadline for pursuing a medical malpractice claim.
Contact an Experienced Meningitis Misdiagnosis Lawyer for Help
Meningitis cases can change a family’s life permanently within hours or days. One minute, everything seems fine; the next, everything is turned upside down. If medical providers failed to diagnose or properly treat your or your child’s meningitis, you may have a medical malpractice claim.
The Las Cruces medical malpractice attorneys at Coates & Johnson, PLLC can help you pursue compensation to the fullest extent of New Mexico medical malpractice law. Call us today for a free consultation.