If You Had a Concussion and Your Doctor Missed the Signs, Can You Sue for Malpractice in Wyoming?

Head injuries can lead to serious consequences that affect your ability to function in all aspects of daily life. Damage to the brain can interfere with your ability to reason and remember. It can cause headaches and other pain. These injuries can even change your personality.

But concussions and other head injuries are often ignored or misdiagnosed. When that happens, it is important to understand your rights as a patient in Wyoming. If your doctor missed signs of a concussion or post-concussion syndrome, it may be possible to recover compensation for the harm you suffer as a result. This would be accomplished through a medical malpractice claim.

These claims involve intensive evidence and complex legal arguments, so it can be difficult to succeed unless you are working with a legal team that is experienced in medical malpractice cases and prepared to invest the effort required to hold medical professionals accountable for their negligence.

Misdiagnosis of Head Injuries Can Cause Serious Problems

Unfortunately, doctors miss signs of concussion and other head injuries frequently. For instance, one study showed that one out of every four children discharged from the hospital after a head injury had been misdiagnosed and that because of the wrong diagnosis, they suffered from post-concussion syndrome for years. Instead of receiving appropriate treatment, these children were wrongly diagnosed with problems such as ADHD, depression, and sleep disorders. They received treatment that did not address the cause of their symptoms, and that allowed their condition to continue to cause problems for years.

Another consequence of the misdiagnosis of a head injury is that patients are not warned of the need to avoid certain activities until they are healed. Many victims go back to work, play sports, and resume regular life activities that leave them susceptible to suffering a second head injury that compounds the damage. Multiple concussions can lead to permanent brain damage and increase the likelihood of suffering conditions such as dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Doctors Frequently Miss Traumatic Brain Injuries in Car Accident Cases

Studies have shown that doctors commonly miss signs of concussion and other traumatic brain injuries. One study reported by the National Institutes of Health, for instance, observed that diagnoses of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) are often missed when patients from car accident cases have other injuries that are more obvious. In addition, doctors missed symptoms of post-concussion syndrome as well. The study concluded that ‘[p]atients whose diagnosis of mTBI is missed end up with significantly more severe postconcussion symptoms.” 

Other studies have echoed this finding, showing that a prompt diagnosis can prevent or mitigate persistent post-concussion symptoms. A missed diagnosis, then, can subject patients to months or years of unnecessary suffering, preventing them from performing at work or school and causing pain and other difficulties.

Post-Concussion Syndrome

In general terms, post-concussion syndrome is defined as concussion symptoms that linger and continue to cause problems for patients for months or even years after the initial injury. These symptoms can include:

• Sensitivity to light and noise
• Sleep disturbances
• Chronic headaches
• Difficulty concentrating or remembering
• Anxiety and anger
• Chronic fatigue
• Problems with balance or dizziness

Symptoms caused by a concussion that is not treated properly can interfere with the ability to function and impair the quality of life. In many cases, these symptoms could be minimized or eliminated if the concussion had been diagnosed and treated properly.

When a Missed or Delayed Diagnosis Causes Problems, You May Be Eligible for Compensation

Doctors often neglect to diagnose traumatic brain injuries and other medical problems because they fail to abide by reasonable standards of care in their profession. That is considered medical malpractice, and patients who suffer as a result of this negligence may be able to recover compensation for their additional medical expenses, pain, suffering, and other consequences of the missed diagnosis.

If you or a family member encountered serious problems because of a missed or delayed diagnosis of a brain injury or other condition, we invite you to contact Ragain & Clark to discuss the compensation that could be available through a malpractice claim in Wyoming. For your free consultation and case evaluation, call our team of experienced malpractice attorneys at 307-388-6400 or contact us online now.