Filing A Malpractice Claim For Misdiagnosis Of Ectopic Pregnancy

An ectopic pregnancy can happen to many women. However, the pregnancy cannot grow and survive outside the uterus. More importantly, this condition can seriously harm the mother if doctors do not find it quickly.

Because the signs can look like other illnesses, doctors sometimes miss the diagnosis. As a result, a delay can lead to rupture, heavy internal bleeding, and other dangerous complications.

If this happens, you may have options after an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis. Therefore, many patients and families pursue compensation by working with a misdiagnosis lawyer and filing a malpractice claim.

What is an ectopic pregnancy?

This condition occurs when an egg gets fertilized outside the uterus, such as in the fallopian tube. Although the embryo may start developing, the baby can’t grow to full term outside the uterus.

Doctors do not always know the exact cause. Still, several risk factors can raise the chance of this condition, including:

• Fallopian tube surgeries
• Fertility treatments
• Pregnancy occurring after the use of contraception such as IUS or IUD
• Smoking
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Pregnancies after the age of 35

Why can this condition become dangerous

The biggest risk is rupture. When the embryo outgrows the fallopian tube, the tube can tear. Consequently, severe internal bleeding can happen quickly.

Ectopic pregnancy symptoms

An ectopic pregnancy may go on for several weeks without any symptoms. Generally speaking, symptoms can appear after the 4th week of pregnancy.

Common signs include:

• Missed periods
• Abdominal pain
• Brown or watery vaginal discharge
• Vaginal bleeding
• Painful urination and defecation
• Painful shoulders

Why do symptoms get missed?

Unfortunately, these symptoms overlap with other conditions, such as:

• Ovarian cyst hemorrhages
• Cyst torsions or ruptures
• UTIs
• Pelvic inflammatory diseases
• Appendicitis
• Miscarriage
• Diverticulitis

Because the symptoms are not specific, doctors sometimes mistake them for something else. Therefore, clinicians need to ask the right questions and run the right tests.

Tests doctors often use

Depending on symptoms and timing, doctors may use:

• Ultrasound scan
• Laparoscopy (a procedure where the womb and fallopian tubes are examined)
• Bloodwork to test for the presence of human chorionic gonadotropin hormone and whether the amounts diverge from regular pregnancies

Signs of rupture that need urgent care

The most common symptoms of a rupture are generally extreme and require immediate surgery:

• Intense pain in the abdomen
• Fainting
• Nausea
• Paleness
• Peritonitis

Determining whether the physician responded appropriately to these symptoms helps establish whether negligence occurred in an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis.

Dangers of misdiagnosed ectopic pregnancy

As mentioned earlier, rupture is the biggest danger. In addition to intense pain and trauma, rupture can cause major blood loss and infection. Consequently, the condition can become fatal.

While rare, death is a real risk when doctors miss the diagnosis.

At the same time, doctors must monitor some patients closely because not every case needs aggressive treatment. However, a misdiagnosis may push a patient toward medication or surgery that could have been avoided with a correct and timely evaluation.

How are ruptured ectopic pregnancies treated?

Doctors can treat some ectopic pregnancies before rupture, such as:

• Expectant management: watching closely to see if the egg dissolves naturally
• Medication: injecting methotrexate to stop growth and lower rupture risk
• Laparoscopy: keyhole surgery under general anesthetic to remove the embryo from the tube

If a rupture occurs, surgery is the only recourse possible.

How a missed diagnosis can increase harm

When doctors miss the diagnosis or make a late diagnosis, the patient's situation worsens, and they may face risks such as:

• Scarring due to surgery
• Loss of the fallopian tube, which could have been saved with medication
• Fertility issues that may require additional medical help later
• Medical costs and financial harm, including time away from work

Because these outcomes can change a person’s future, many families speak with a medical misdiagnosis attorney or delayed diagnosis lawyer to understand their rights.

Do you have a valid ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis claim?

If a physician misdiagnoses an ectopic pregnancy, you may have the right to file a medical malpractice claim.

This is a civil suit brought against doctors who caused injuries to their patients through negligence. Strict standards need to be met for the case to be considered valid. A negative outcome isn’t always considered medical malpractice, and birth injuries can happen even if a physician followed all standard protocols.

Valid malpractice claims have the following elements:

• Existence of a doctor-patient relationship
• The medical professional acted negligently
• The medical professional caused an injury
• A breach of standards of care occurred
• The negligent event caused the injury

An attorney must also prove causation or that a medical professional’s misdiagnosis directly led to your injury.

File a claim now

Negligence can happen in several ways with ectopic pregnancies. For example, providers may miss warning signs, delay testing, or fail to act quickly during an emergency. As a result, many cases involve wrongful diagnosis and negligent diagnosis.

Because these cases often require medical records and expert review, you typically need a misdiagnosis attorney to build a strong claim. At Chakour Law, our leading legal team includes a former surgeon. Therefore, we understand both the medical decisions and the legal steps needed to prove negligence.

In addition, we consult medical experts who can identify whether your malpractice case is valid and how likely it is that you’ll recover compensation. If you want guidance from a Jacksonville medical malpractice attorney, our team can help you collect evidence, explain what happened, and present your case in court.

Chakour Law has handled many ectopic pregnancy malpractice cases, and we focus on helping Jacksonville families after an ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis. Many clients also look for the best medical malpractice lawyers in Jacksonville, Florida, when the stakes feel this high, and we work hard to earn that trust.

Schedule a case evaluation - call (833) 633-6257 or fill out our contact form.

Conclusion

An ectopic pregnancy can become life-threatening, especially when doctors miss the signs or delay testing. However, you may have legal options if a provider’s mistake caused preventable harm. Chakour Law is an experienced team for ectopic pregnancy misdiagnosis cases in Jacksonville, Florida, and we can guide you through the steps of a medical malpractice claim.

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.