The Rationale behind Claiming Compensation in a Case of Delayed Heart Attack Diagnosis

Heart attack, also known as cardiac arrest or myocardial infarction, is quite a common yet life threatening complication. According to the BBC report between 2010 and 2012 almost 800,000 of the UK citizens have suffered from this dangerous problem and several of them encounter fatality as consequence of the problem. Generally development of the health condition starts with blood clot formation in the coronary arteries, which leads to blood flow blockage to a particular part of the heart, causing severe damage to the heart muscles or complete destruction of the same. Unless the situation is diagnosed at the earliest and proper cautionary measures are taken, a victim of the heath condition can be partially or permanently paralyzed or expire. It is the responsibility of a qualified physician to diagnose the situation when time is still in favor of the patient and prescribe him with the correct preventive measures. Failed or delayed diagnosis of the problem due to negligence of the physician is regarded as a case of medical negligence and such an incident can be addressed before a court of law for retrieving the compensation amount.
 
Physiological Problems Contributing to Heart Attack:

• Formation of blood clots in the blood supplying vessels due to sticking of the platelets together and partial or complete blockage of blood flow to the heart. This is cited as the most frequent cause of heart attack.
• Complete blockage of one coronary artery and blood flow that reaches the heart isn’t enough to meet up the requirement for oxygen in the organ.

Generally heart attack occurs when a person is resting, especially sleeping or he has got involved in certain forms of rigorous physical activities. People, who go though persistent emotional and psychological stress, either for professional or personal reasons are also under higher risk to suffer from cardiac arrest compared to their normal counterparts.
 
Symptoms:

The most common symptoms of heart attack are:

• Chest tightening
• Overall physical discomfort
• Chest pain
• Experiencing heaviness on the chest, including the squeezing sensation

Once a physician learns about these symptoms from a patient, he requires undertaking the necessary tests immediately to diagnose the situation and prescribe the correct treatment method. If he is reluctant to undergo the required procedure and a patient suffers serious consequences due to such negligence, he will be held responsible for breaching civil rights of the patient in the context of right to life. Consequently, such an act makes the patient legally eligible to claim compensation from the wrongdoer due for the deviation from responsibility and professional code of conduct. With the help of expert medical negligence solicitors such situations can be dealt correctly, adding to the possibility of winning the case.

The Rationale:

A patient, experiencing the symptoms of cardiac arrest consults a physician in order to find out the best way to avoid extremes of the problem. While the professional code of conduct of a physician instructs him clearly to save lives of treatment seekers, his negligence or delay to take the necessary steps is sufficient to jeopardize the situation and this is specifically true when it comes to emergency situations like heart attack. The suffering a patient goes through is categorized under the provision of personal injury and being a part of this wide discipline, it is addressed under the medical negligence law, along with the argument that irresponsible action of the concerned physician is the main reason that boundaries of the civil liberty for the patient has been breached.