My mother had aortic valve replacement surgery in December 2010 and a pacemaker installed in April 2011. She was instructed to take Cumadin.

Blood clots can certainly occur after a patient is taken off of anticoagulation. Nevertheless, they can also be caused by a variety of other things, including atrial fibrillation and a hypercoaguable state. For your mom to have a viable medical malpractice case, you have to prove that a doctor did something wrong, and this caused the blood clot. It sounds like you believe that she should not have been taken off of the Coumadin when she was. An attorney would have to look at the medical records and the pertinent literature to tell you whether that hunch is correct. If her damages were limited to the blood clot and that was dealt with in a way that left her with no permanent damage, then she probably does not have a financially viable malpractice case even of the doctor did something wrong. By way of example, I am knee deep in a malpractice case where a patient suffered a clot after the doctors failed to properly anticoagulate the patient, but he lost vision when the clot traveled to the brain. Click here for an article that discusses the three main questions I ask when deciding whether to investigate a potential medical malpractice case. This addresses the issue of financial viability. Click here for an article that explains what you can expect when filing a medical malpractice case. Please note that by attempting to answer your question, I am not acting as your attorney. I will do nothing further to protect or preserve your interests in the absence of any additional discussion with you about this matter. John Ratkowitz, Esq. Starr, Gern, Davison & Rubin, P.C. 105 Eisenhower Parkway Roseland, NJ 07068 Office: (973) 830-8441 Cell: (732) 616-6278 Fax: (973) 226-0031 Email: jratkowitz@starrgern.com  Skype: john_ratkowitz Web: www.starrgern.com