Time to sue?

As someone else brought up (statute of limitations), there can be time limits involved. Going to an attorney once or twice should at least answer the basic questions (merits, time limits, etc). You will at least know the window of time you have for filing...you can then delay filing and spend as much time as you can with your wife.

Sometimes, docs do there best and still can't save everyone...in those situations, they did nothing wrong. Sometimes there are tough situations where a patient might have ambiguous symptoms and/or test results and the doc has to make their best guess based on their training, experience and judgment and still something goes wrong...not their fault. Then there are times when doctors knew or should have known about the risks of certain treatments that were not fully explained or where a doctor incorrectly interpreted a test result, or made a decision outside of their area of competence rather than consulting a specialist, or flat out made a boneheaded call where they should have known better...these are situations where doctors should be held accountable. The degree that they should be held accountable might vary depending many things.

Regardless, I'd think one visit to a competent attorney would be a good idea. Then you could decide what you want to do from there (delay, drop the idea, etc).

My dad went to the hospital complaining of a really bad backache. It turned out he had terminal lung cancer which had metastized. The initial diagnosis: pancreatitis. Not that it mattered in the end.

Before that, his handyman went in to have a boil lanced. That's not a real big deal, but it's pretty painful so it's normally done under general anesthesia and he just never woke up. He was was in good physical condition other than the boil and the testing didn't indicate that he would have a problem, it was a freak thing. He was a helluva nice guy.

The point: sometimes things happen we just have no explanation for. Docs are human just like everyone and they can make mistakes, which is perfectly excusable. Now, just plain negligence or laziness is not. To me,the question in this case is was proper due diligence on their part done? Were you both warned of the possible consequences before she took the prescription?

I too would suggest contacting an attorney. If it turns out they did something stupid a lawsuit won't fix what's happened but if it saves someone else...