Pneumonia, particularly in high-risk patients, can result in breathing difficulties, sepsis, and even death. Malpractice claims may arise due to medical providers failing to appropriately diagnose and/or treat it.
Pneumonia is an infection that inflames the air sacs in the lungs. Air sacs can fill with fluid or pus, causing symptoms of illness and difficulty breathing. Most often, pneumonia is caused by a bacterial or viral infection.[1]
Symptoms of pneumonia can range from mild to severe, and can include cough, fever, chills, and difficulty breathing. The severity of the pneumonia can vary based on many factors, including the cause of the infection and the overall health of the patient. It is the leading cause of hospitalizations in the United States, and although most cases are treated successfully, tens of thousands of people die from pneumonia every year.[2]
Malpractice claims involving pneumonia may occur in many settings, although often they occur when there is a failure by a primary care provider, urgent care provider, or emergency medicine provider to appropriately diagnose it.
In such settings, providers such as doctors, physician assistants, and ARNPs must exercise reasonable care in determining the cause of a patient’s complaints. Although symptoms of viral and bacterial pneumonia can be different, and the severity of illness can differ from patient to patient, generally speaking symptoms of pneumonia can include chest pain when breathing or coughing, shortness of breath, and increase in respiratory rate, fatigue, fever, and nausea/vomiting.[3]
Reasonably careful providers will include pneumonia as a possible cause of the above symptoms, prompting additional diagnostic steps to be taken. These include a physical exam, including listening to your lungs as you breathe, taking your temperature, and measuring your blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate.
Radiology tests, including most often chest x-rays but sometimes chest CT scans, can help providers find clues of the disease. And blood tests can often diagnose the specific organism causing the infection.[4]
Claims of malpractice can arise in the diagnostic process when providers have sufficient signs and symptoms of pneumonia available to them but fail to consider it as a possible cause. And claims can arise when providers do consider pneumonia as a possibility, but do not take necessary steps to confirm the diagnosis and provide appropriate treatment.
Alternatively, a provider can order the right diagnostic tests and subsequent errors occur. A test may be ordered that is misinterpreted – such as when a radiologist misses worrisome inflammation around the lungs. This may result in a misdiagnosis. Or, lab tests are ordered, and test results are not read by the ordering provider. This may then cause a delay in reaching the appropriate diagnosis and initiating treatment.
In all these scenarios, a sick patient is not appropriately diagnosed. This can lead to a delay in treatment, which can result in worsening symptoms, the infection progressing, and the risk of serious injury or even death.
Alternatively, a provider might diagnose pneumonia, but take a short cut and assume the cause is a virus instead of bacteria. In that scenario, antibiotics should be given and are not, the infection is allowed to worsen, and the patient is at risk of serious injury or death.
Sometimes, providers make the correct diagnosis, but for whatever reason, the treatment is delayed, causing harm.
Finally, an appropriate diagnosis may be made, but the treatment is substandard. This could include failing to hospitalize a critically ill patient whom the doctor mistakenly believes is safe to be treated on an outpatient basis. A patient may be hospitalized but not monitored at a time when he or she suffers an acute complication. Or, the patient may be given the wrong medication, leading to deterioration in the patient’s condition.
Most often, claims alleging failures to diagnose and/or treat pneumonia involve patients progressing to sepsis – a serious and life-threatening infection of the blood. Once the infection reaches the blood stream and causes infection, it is often very difficult to treat.
Although potentially serious, pneumonia is often a treatable condition, particularly when timely diagnosed and appropriately treated. However, claims may arise when health care providers fail to act reasonably, and harm is caused.
If you suspect that you or a loved one has suffered an injury from malpractice associated with pneumonia, contact us.[5] If warranted, we will carefully review all of the medical records to determine if there is a claim to pursue.
