Home / Practice Areas / Medical Malpractice / Diabetes
Diabetes
Diabetes Attorney
The consequences of poorly treated diabetes can be vast: blindness, limb amputation, loss of kidney function, nerve damage, and other bad outcomes. All of these consequences can happen to patients who receive good medical care, but the chances are much more likely of a bad outcome when medical care is indifferent or sloppy. This web site is intended to help patients and families with Type I and Type II diabetes understand the standards of medical care they have a right to expect from their physicians.
The Major Complications of Poorly Treated Diabetes
- Blindness caused by Diabetes is a serious complication of poorly controlled diabetes
- Poorly controlled Diabetes is the leading cause of nontraumatic foot and leg amputation in the United States.
- Poorly treated Diabetes is the leading cause of severe Kidney Disease, accounting for 44% of new cases each year.
- One of the most common complications of diabetes is diabetic neuropathy, or severe nerve damage.
- Most people with diabetes also have high blood pressure and cholesterol that increase their risk for heart disease and stroke.
The Importance of Normal Blood Sugar
The cornerstone of preventing the complications of diabetes is maintaining a patient’s hour-by-hour blood sugar as close as possible to that of a nondiabetic. High levels of blood sugar are poison to the body’s blood vessels, particularly the tiny blood vessels that feed sensitive areas like the retina of the eye, the filtering system of the kidneys, and the peripheral nerves of the hands and feet.
Many diabetics are treated with insulin therapy in order to normalize their insulin levels. Anyone treated with insulin should monitor their own blood glucose daily. This has been the accepted standard of care since at least 1986, when a consensus conference convened by the National Insitutes of Health advocated daily self-monitoring. Patients who learn about the toll on their bodies from poor blood sugar and who are properly educated by their doctor nearly always do a good job of regulating their blood sugar.
To monitor a patient’s blood sugar level, a doctor should perform a blood test on the glycosylated hemoglobin, or hemoglobin A1c, which measures the percentage of hemoglobin in the blood that is attached to molecules of sugar. This is a very accurate measure of the patient’s average blood-sugar levels over the previous six weeks. [See HBA1c to blood sugar conversion chart]
Medical Malpractice in Diabetes Treatment
What are “standards of care”? These are the minimum requirements for competent treatment of a medical disease or condition. A number of organizations, mainly the American Diabetes Association, have published guidelines that together make up the standards of care for treating diabetics in the United States.
If a doctor has violated these standards of care, he or she can be legally liable for the damage caused by the substandard medical care.
To learn more about medical malpractice in diabetes treatment and detailed descriptions of the standards of care, click here.
Consult with an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney
If you believe you or a family member has been seriously injured from someone else’s fault – whether from medical malpractice, a defective product, a motor vehicle collision or any other kind of accidental injury — you may want to click here to contact an experienced personal injury attorney for a free evaluation of your case. You can also email us at info@patrickmalonelaw.com or call us at 202-742-1500 or 888-625-6635 toll-free. We will respond within 24 hours. There is no charge for our initial consultation.
