For some Texas heart attack patients, conservative treatment that involves allowing the body to heal by itself may be the most helpful course of action. This is especially true for spontaneous coronary artery dissection or SCAD, most frequently experienced by young women; in this type of heart attack, a sudden tear happens inside an artery, leading to the incident. This is unlike typical heart attacks, which occur due to the results of a lifetime of plaque building up in the arteries. Researching physicians said that treating the two types of heart attacks in the same way can be detrimental.
However, in order to determine the best course of response to a heart attack, a correct diagnosis is critical. SCAD was little understood until 2010; more recent research has indicated that on average, SCAD patients are women between the ages of 45 and 53, often with few other risk factors for heart disease. Doctors have noted that misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis of SCAD is a common occurrence, despite being the top cause of heart attacks among women under 50 as well as the primary cause of heart attacks during pregnancy and childbirth.
Because most SCAD patients are younger women with generally good cardiovascular health, they are frequently misdiagnosed because they fail to meet common beliefs about heart disease and risk factors. Even when younger women with SCAD present at the hospital with classic symptoms of a heart attack, the diagnosis is frequently missed.
Many patients have lost years of good health and even their lives due to misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose their actual illness. This is especially true for those who do not meet standard beliefs about their disease, such as younger healthy women experiencing heart attacks. People who have been misdiagnosed and suffered a worsened medical condition as a result may benefit from consulting with a medical malpractice attorney about the potential of pursuing their case to seek damages.
