Personal Injury Lawyers

Whether a medical malpractice victim or his or her family can recover for emotional distress caused by the malpractice is a matter of great debate. Historically, courts were reluctant to award damages for emotional distress because the damages are difficult to prove and difficult to assess. Currently, courts are split as to under what circumstances, if any, emotional distress damages are recoverable.

In general, there are two theories under which a person can recover emotional distress damages in medical malpractice cases...

One of the most serious types of emergency room malpractice is the failure to diagnose meningitis. Meningitis is an infection and inflammation of the membranes and fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord. Meningitis is most often caused by bacteria or viruses. Bacterial meningitis is usually much more serious than viral meningitis. Over two-thirds of all meningitis cases occur in children under the age of five.

The failure to timely diagnose bacterial meningitis can have catastrophic consequences. It is estimated that one of every ten meningitis patients dies. Those who survive can suffer from brain damage, deafness, and seizure disorders if the condition is not diagnosed timely or treated properly. Nearly 500 people die each year from bacterial meningitis.

Whether the failure to diagnose a case of bacterial meningitis is malpractice depends on the circumstances of the case. Expert testimony is required to demonstrate that the physician's failure to make a timely diagnosis of bacterial meningitis was a breach of the standard of care and that the breach caused the plaintiff's injuries. The damages in a failure to diagnose meningitis case can be very high because of the likelihood of significant brain damage or death from the failure to make a timely diagnosis.