Every day in the Houston area, children run and tumble on their playgrounds
at school. Sometimes things get a little out of hand and accidents happen,
most of them minor scrapes or cuts. At times, though, children can suffer
a broken bone or more serious injuries in the schoolyard. A recess romp
rarely turns into a fatal accident, but occasionally the results are tragic.
Last spring at John W. Carpenter elementary school, a 6-year-old boy from
Dallas collided with a playground pole. His parents say that, after being
admitted to a hospital, the boy was sent home after being x-rayed and
diagnosed with constipation. Several hours later, the boy lost consciousness
at home and his parents sent for an ambulance. Before the ambulance even
arrived at the hospital, though, the boy lost his life.
Was there a medical mistake or a misdiagnosis of a fatal condition? According
to the family’s lawsuit, the negligence that allegedly took place
was both willful and wanton. The family’s attorney noted that the
defendants listed in the suit have denied the accusations of gross negligence.
Specifically, the suit claims that doctors misused an enema and obscured
internal damage with a kidney, ureter and bladder x-ray.
No parent wants to ponder the notion of
wrongful death amidst tragedy, but legal action is one way that parents can hold negligent
professionals accountable. In hospitals, misdiagnosis errors can come
about through a wide variety of ways, from rushed lab work to faulty communication
between staff. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can find the
source of negligence in a misdiagnosis incident and aid families in moving
the process forward from there.
