You keep having pain and cramping in your legs, and your doctor believes it’s just muscle aches or arthritis, but treatment doesn’t resolve the symptoms – in fact, they get worse. Finally, the pain becomes so bad you go back to the doctor, and this time, she diagnoses you correctly with peripheral artery disease. But by that point, it’s too late – the condition has progressed to its most advanced stage, critical limb ischemia, and you now face permanent ulcers, gangrene and even the possibility of amputation.
It’s not an implausible scenario; doctors do fail to diagnose conditions, and they fail to diagnose some more often than others.
Peripheral artery disease is a condition in which fatty deposits or plaque block large arteries in the legs that lead to the heart, potentially causing heart attack or stroke. An estimated eight to 12 million Americans have the disease, but only about 25 percent know it because doctors frequently misdiagnose its symptoms. In a recent Wall Street Journal column on the condition, a University of Minnesota Medical School professor called it “the most common, deadly and costly cardiovascular disease that the public hasn’t heard of.”
If a doctor failed to diagnose you with peripheral artery disease or another medical condition, contact Hodes Milman for a free case evaluation. We’re aggressive personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers based in Los Angeles, serving all of California. We have the experience to take on the medical industry and have achieved multi-million dollar verdicts for our clients. Call us toll-free at (949) 640-8222 or submit the contact form via our website, www.hodesmilman.com.
