Yes. You consented to radiation treatment for breast cancer, lung cancer, or another form of cancer because you believed the benefits outweighed the known side effects. What you didn’t account for, and what you couldn’t predict, were the heart injuries that could come from a radiation overdose or wrong-site radiation treatment.
How a Radiation Overdose Could Damage Your Heart
A cancer radiation treatment overdose can injure different parts of the heart. When too much radiation hits the heart, cardiotoxicity may develop. Specifically, you may be at risk of suffering:
- Pericarditis. Pericarditis occurs when the tissue around the heart becomes inflamed. Typically, it happens 6-12 months after radiation treatment.
- Myocarditis. Myocarditis occurs when the heart muscle itself becomes inflamed.
- Congestive heart failure. The heart may stop pumping efficiently because of radiation exposure.
- Heart valve disease. The four valves of your heart make sure that blood flows in the right direction. If one or more valves are damaged by radiation, the condition may become life-threatening.
- Heart arrhythmia. Too much radiation can damage the heart’s electrical system and change the heart’s rhythm.
- Cardiomyopathy. The heart may become enlarged from radiation exposure.
Additionally, a decade or more after radiation treatment, you could suffer from other heart conditions such as premature coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis.
Your Future Is at Risk
Cancer provided enough doctors’ appointments and medical uncertainty for you. Now, however, you also have to deal with potentially serious cardiac complications caused by a medical mistake in your cancer radiation treatment. You have to trust additional doctors to provide the right treatment for your medical conditions.
Our cancer radiation injury lawyers can help you with your recovery. We will fight to recover any costs related to the radiation error injury, including, but not limited to medical costs, lost income, out-of-pocket expenses, physical pain, and emotional suffering.
Take the first step and call us today for a free consultation. Let us review your claim to see if we can help you secure your future.
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