2023-05-07 10:00:02
A rapid diagnosis of a stroke and the provision of immediate medical treatment, within a specified time window of a few hours, are critical to saving the patient’s life, and can change from end to end the degree of damage and the degree of disability that will be left as a result.
A 58-year-old resident of Ramat Gan, who went to the emergency room at Assaf Harofeh hospital, knew this very well after suddenly feeling extreme weakness, slurred speech and difficulty walking.
However, a misdiagnosis by the medical staff in the emergency department caused him irreversible damage, as claimed in the lawsuit recently filed by Attorney David Pyle and Attorney Gal Markowitz, of the Pyle & Co. law firm, on behalf of the patient, against Assaf Harofeh Hospital and the firm the health that activates it.
According to the lawsuit, in December 2020, the plaintiff went to the emergency room at Assaf Harofeh, complaining of symptoms that indicate a stroke. But instead of acting according to the medical guidelines and accepted medical practice, it is claimed in the lawsuit that the specialist doctor who examined him, within a few minutes after his admission to the hospital, ruled out the possibility of a stroke, without appropriate imaging tests being performed on the plaintiff, without a neurological examination of its components being recorded and without a neurologist being summoned, or At the very least, a senior doctor in emergency medicine should check it out.
The specialist stated in the medical record that there is no need for laboratory tests.
According to Attorney Pyle, the specialist doctor was content to refer the plaintiff to a CT scan without contrast material, a test that is not suitable for diagnosing a stroke but for ruling out intracranial blood.
According to Attorney Pyle, in the summary of the examination performed by the specialist doctor, it was recorded that the plaintiff suffers from peripheral paralysis of the facial nerve on the right due to facialis. According to him, this disorder, also called ‘Bell’s palsy’, is a nervous disorder in the facial muscles, which in most cases goes away after a period of time.
According to Attorney Pyle, the doctor did not consult with an older colleague of his, nor with a neurologist, and released the plaintiff to his home with a referral for treatment with steroids and eye drops, while instructing him to continue medical follow-up at the health fund.
According to the lawsuit, two days after he was released from the emergency room at Asaf Harofeh, the plaintiff was hospitalized in the cerebrovascular accident department at Sheba Tel Hashomer Hospital. There it was found that he was suffering from an acute cerebral infarction, which explained the weakness in his right side of the body.
It is further claimed that the plaintiff underwent a long rehabilitation that included physical therapy and occupational therapy, but he was left with severe damages, including weakness in the right side of the body and face, cognitive decline with difficulties in attention, concentration and language, and a speech disorder.
According to Attorney Pyle, the incorrect diagnosis by the medical staff at Assaf Harofeh, according to which the claimant suffers from fasciitis, is the result of a flawed neurological examination. According to him, the specialist doctor ignored clear symptoms that indicated a developing stroke with central paralysis of the facial nerve, did not perform the necessary tests and ignored risk factors characterized by the plaintiff, which also supported that it was a stroke.
Attached to the statement of claim was a medical opinion by Prof. Shmuel Hayman, an expert in internal medicine and emergency medicine from the ‘Physicians’ Forum’, who stated that the treatment given to the plaintiff at ‘Assaf Harofeh’ was extremely negligent, and that he was the one who exclusively caused his injuries.
According to the expert, the wrong diagnosis, according to which it is facialis, is a gross mistake, which missed the true diagnosis of a gradually developing stroke.
The expert explains in his opinion that the diagnosis between peripheral damage to the facial nerve (facialis) and central paralysis of the facial nerve is quite simple, and a mistake in the diagnosis between these two conditions is rare.
According to Attorney Pyle, in the plaintiff’s case, the diagnosis was even simpler, since he presented clear and unequivocal signs that indicated a stroke and were not at all consistent with Facialis, and if that was not enough, he suffered from risk factors that also supported the possibility of a stroke due to sclerosis Arteries, which were also ignored by the specialist doctor.
Prof. Hayman added and stated in his opinion, that the serious mistake of the doctor specializing in the emergency department ‘Asaf Harofeh’ could have been avoided, if only a neurologist had been involved in the examination, as required, or at least a senior doctor, an expert in emergency medicine. As for the CT scan, which was performed without contrast material and was interpreted as normal, the expert stated that it does not at all rule out a developing stroke and that it was mandatory to use imaging in special protocols with contrast material to demonstrate the emerging infarction.
According to the expert, due to the diagnostic failure in the Asaf Harofeh emergency room, no early intervention was taken to open the arterial blockage in the time window that was possible, and therefore, when the claimant arrived at the Sheba Hospital, he had already suffered extensive and irreversible brain damage, outside the time window that allowed medical intervention. As a result, according to the expert, the plaintiff was left with a significant and permanent functional disability.
The lawsuit was accompanied by another medical opinion by Dr. Sergio Reuven Eichenbaum, an expert in neurology and physical medicine and rehabilitation, who estimated the weighted disability of the plaintiff, due to negligence, at a rate of 68 percent. According to this expert, due to the plaintiff’s condition, his type D driver’s license (bus and taxi license) was revoked, and he will no longer be able to return to the workplace. The expert also determined that the claimant needed help in order to take care of his household.
Attorney Pyle and Attorney Markowitz recently filed a claim for compensation for bodily harm due to medical negligence, on behalf of the plaintiff, against the State of Israel, which operates Assaf Harofeh Hospital.
In the lawsuit, the court is asked to oblige the state to compensate the plaintiff with the maximum compensation within its jurisdiction – up to NIS 2.5 million.
The claim is currently being discussed at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court. A statement of defense has not yet been filed.
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