Legal Assistance for Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose and Treat Pneumonia

Pneumonia occurs among the elderly population more often than other age groups. It is also a more serious health concern in the elderly. Seniors are more likely to suffer severe forms of pneumonia and to be less able to fight off the virus. The dangers of pneumonia in an older person make it that much more important to catch and treat this condition as soon as possible.

It is a nursing home’s legal duty to understand how pneumonia can present itself in the elderly, to perform routine health checks, and to make timely diagnoses through accepted medical standards and practices. Symptoms of pneumonia in seniors can include coughing, discolored or bloody phlegm or mucus, fever and chills, shortness of breath, chest pain, headache, confusion, lethargy, and excessive sweating. As soon as a nurse or staff member notices any potential symptoms of pneumonia, he or she should take due care to evaluate the nursing home resident and take appropriate action.

Failure to follow the accepted protocols for detecting and diagnosing pneumonia, resulting in resident illness or death, is negligence. Negligence in the eyes of Florida law can encompass any act or failure to act that does not fulfill the individual’s duty of care to the injured person. To prove negligence, we must show that the nursing home or one of its employees reasonably should have recognized the condition and taken action, yet failed to do so, and that this breach of duty caused your damage or those of a loved one. A lawyer can be a significant asset in proving negligence in a failure to diagnose case.