Lawyer's Story

My name is Ray Alexander, for over 20 years my legal career has almost exclusively been in the area of medical malpractice. I’ve been honored to be selected as a member of “The Million Dollar Advocate’s Forum” a group of attorneys who have been recognized as successful in the area of medical negligence. Much of my experience has been in the area of malpractice involving children, as the father of two; I’ve always been interested in protecting the rights of children who so often can’t really look out for themselves. An area that I’m particularly interested in is failure to diagnose meningitis cases. Nothing is sadder than to see a child permanently injured by bacterial meningitis which should be a very treatable disease. A child who, but for, a “bad” doctor would be happy and healthy instead of impaired.

The key to treating meningitis is making a proper diagnoses quickly and getting the child on the proper antibiotics immediately. Meningitis can kill a child within 24 hours if left untreated, speed is everything. The disease has two basic forms, viral which is relatively harmless and bacterial which is deadly. The disease is an infection of the fluid in the spinal cord and the area surrounding the brain. It is most common and most dangerous when it strikes infants and young children.

The critical factor in proper treatment of meningitis is getting a timely sample of spinal fluid and culturing it to determine if the child is infected. Doctors often mistake the disease for common flu and fail to make the proper diagnosis until it’s too late. Every year in America almost 500 people, mostly children, die from meningitis. Those that survive can suffer brain damage, coma, hearing loss, mental retardation, paralysis and seizures.

As you can see the failure to diagnose and properly treat bacterial meningitis is deadly serious. If your child has had meningitis and you have any questions I’d like to help, Please click here.

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