Trusted Aortic Dissection Malpractice Law Firm in Florida
Freedland Harwin Valori Gander represents patients who survived a missed or delayed aortic dissection diagnosis with permanent injuries, and families who lost loved ones because an emergency room failed to act in time. These cases demand medical sophistication, investigative depth, and a willingness to go up against major hospital systems. FHV Legal brings all of that.
Written and edited by our team of expert legal content writers and reviewed and approved by Daniel Harwin
- Content last updated on:
- June 30, 2026
Why Is Aortic Dissection So Commonly Misdiagnosed?
Despite its severity, aortic dissection is missed or initially misdiagnosed in a significant percentage of cases, some studies estimate the misdiagnosis rate at 15-43% on initial presentation. Several factors contribute to this troubling pattern:
- Symptoms mimic other conditions. The classic presentation is sudden, severe, tearing or ripping chest or back pain, but many patients do not present this way. Some describe a dull ache. Others have neurological symptoms, abdominal pain, or signs resembling a heart attack or stroke, leading to the wrong diagnostic pathway.
- Physicians focus on ruling out heart attack. When a patient presents with chest pain, the immediate concern is often myocardial infarction. A normal ECG or troponin level may falsely reassure the physician that nothing serious is happening, when in fact the aorta is tearing.
- Imaging is not always ordered promptly. Definitive diagnosis requires CT angiography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis. When this imaging is not ordered or is ordered too late, the window for effective intervention closes.
- Risk factors are overlooked. Aortic dissection is more common in patients with hypertension, Marfan syndrome, bicuspid aortic valve, a history of aortic aneurysm, or cocaine use. Failing to consider these risk factors in a patient with chest or back pain is a significant diagnostic failure.
- Younger patients are dismissed. While aortic dissection is more common in older adults, it can occur in younger patients. Particularly those with connective tissue disorders. Physicians who assume serious cardiovascular disease is unlikely in a younger person may fail to pursue the appropriate workup.
Medical errors cause unimaginable harm. Let FHV Legal help you pursue justice, call today for a free case review.
Medical Negligence in Aortic Dissection Cases
When a physician or emergency team fails to diagnose aortic dissection in a timely manner, the question becomes whether that failure fell below the accepted standard of care. Common forms of negligence in these cases include:
- Failure to order CT angiography in a patient presenting with severe chest or back pain and relevant risk factors
- Misattributing symptoms to a heart attack and proceeding with thrombolytics or anticoagulation treatments that can be fatal in an aortic dissection patient
- Discharging a patient with undiagnosed aortic dissection after an inadequate workup
- Failure to recognize the “aortic dissection risk score” or use standardized risk stratification tools available to emergency physicians
- Delayed transfer to a facility capable of emergency aortic surgery once dissection was identified
Failure to manage blood pressure aggressively in the acute phase, allowing the dissection to propagate
Florida emergency departments from the busy ERs at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale are expected to maintain the protocols and clinical acumen to identify aortic dissection. When they fail, the results are frequently fatal or permanently disabling.
Injuries and Outcomes from Missed Aortic Dissection
Patients who survive a missed or delayed aortic dissection diagnosis often do so with significant permanent injuries. These can include:
- Stroke and permanent neurological deficits, resulting from disruption of blood flow to the brain
- Paraplegia or paralysis, from spinal cord ischemia caused by involvement of spinal arteries
- Kidney failure, from disruption of renal artery blood supply
- Limb ischemia, potentially requiring amputation when arterial blood flow to extremities is compromised
- Cardiac tamponade, from blood filling the pericardial sac, compressing the heart
- Death. The outcome in a significant proportion of untreated or poorly managed Type A dissections
In wrongful death cases, surviving family members, spouses, children, and parents may be entitled to compensation under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act. In survival cases, the injured patient may recover significant damages reflecting the full impact of their permanent injuries.
Patients who survive a missed or delayed aortic dissection diagnosis often do so with significant permanent injuries. These can include:
- Stroke and permanent neurological deficits, resulting from disruption of blood flow to the brain
- Paraplegia or paralysis, from spinal cord ischemia caused by involvement of spinal arteries
- Kidney failure, from disruption of renal artery blood supply
- Limb ischemia, potentially requiring amputation when arterial blood flow to extremities is compromised
- Cardiac tamponade, from blood filling the pericardial sac, compressing the heart
- Death. The outcome in a significant proportion of untreated or poorly managed Type A dissections
In wrongful death cases, surviving family members, spouses, children, and parents may be entitled to compensation under Florida’s Wrongful Death Act. In survival cases, the injured patient may recover significant damages reflecting the full impact of their permanent injuries.
How FHV Legal Investigates Aortic Dissection Malpractice Cases
These cases require deep medical expertise and meticulous factual investigation. When a family comes to us after a missed aortic dissection, our attorneys and their medical consultants undertake a comprehensive review that includes:
- Complete ER and hospital records, including triage notes, physician assessments, nursing documentation, and imaging orders
- Radiology and imaging reports, including any X-rays, ECGs, CT scans, or echocardiograms that were or were not obtained
- Timeline reconstruction, mapping every clinical decision point from presentation to diagnosis or death
- Expert review by board-certified emergency medicine physicians and cardiovascular surgeons who can opine on whether the standard of care was met
- Assessment of causation, what would have happened with a timely diagnosis, and how the delay changed the patient’s outcome
FHV Legal has the resources, relationships, and experience to build aortic dissection malpractice cases that stand up to the most aggressive hospital defense teams in Florida.
Frequently Asked Questions About Aortic Dissection Malpractice
How do I know if my loved one's aortic dissection was misdiagnosed due to negligence?
Key indicators include: your loved one presented to an ER with severe chest or back pain and was sent home or given an incorrect diagnosis; a delay of several hours or more occurred between presentation and a correct diagnosis; anticoagulants or thrombolytics were administered despite the actual cause being aortic dissection; or relevant risk factors like hypertension or Marfan syndrome were present but apparently not considered. A free case evaluation by FHV Legal can help you understand whether negligence played a role.
Can a hospital be held liable if the patient had no prior history of heart disease?
Yes. Aortic dissection does not require a history of heart disease to occur, and the absence of cardiac history does not excuse a failure to investigate severe chest or back pain appropriately. The standard of care requires emergency physicians to consider aortic dissection in any patient with a presentation consistent with the condition, regardless of prior history.
What if thrombolytics were given for a suspected heart attack, but the patient actually had aortic dissection?
This is one of the most serious and well-recognized consequences of misdiagnosing aortic dissection as a heart attack. Thrombolytics (clot-busting drugs) and anticoagulants are standard treatment for myocardial infarction, but in a patient with aortic dissection, they can dramatically worsen internal bleeding and cause rapid death. If a physician gave these medications without adequately ruling out aortic dissection, that decision may be a significant act of negligence.
What if the aortic dissection was eventually diagnosed correctly just a few hours late?
In aortic dissection cases, a few hours can be the difference between life and death, or between full recovery and permanent paralysis. Even a delay that seems short in other contexts can be medically catastrophic when the aorta is tearing. If the delay resulted from a failure to follow appropriate diagnostic protocols and caused measurable harm, it may support a valid malpractice claim.
Does FHV Legal handle aortic dissection cases throughout Florida?
Yes. Freedland Harwin Valori Gander handles failure-to-diagnose aortic dissection cases statewide. We represent clients from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, as well as communities throughout Central and North Florida. Our offices are in Fort Lauderdale and Coral Gables, and we litigate in courts across the state.
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ALL FIELDS REQUIRED
- ANESTHESIA & PACU ERRORS
- BIRTH TRAUMA
- EMERGENCY ROOM MISTAKES
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE OR MISDIAGNOSIS – CANCER
- FAILURE OR DELAY IN DIAGNOSIS OF SEPSIS
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT GESTATIONAL DIABETES
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE BREAST CANCER
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE HEART ATTACK
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE OR TREAT AORTIC DISSECTION
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE PNEUMONIA
- FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE PULMONARY EMBOLISM
- FAILURE TO TREAT STROKE
- HOSPITAL MALPRACTICE
- INTRAVENOUS INFILTRATION
- MEDICATION ERRORS
- MEDICATION OVERDOSE
- MISDIAGNOSIS
- NEGLIGENT FETAL MONITORING
- OB/GYN ERRORS
- PLASTIC SURGERY ERRORS
- PREOPERATIVE CLEARANCE ERROR
- RADIOLOGY ERRORS
- SPINE SURGERY MISTAKES
- STILLBIRTH & MISCARRIAGE MALPRACTICE
- SURGERY CENTER ERRORS
- SURGICAL ERRORS
- TYPES OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWSUITS
CASE RESULTS
TESTIMONIALS
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