Medical Malpractice and Diabetes: Not So Fast

It’s so easy to point the finger. As diabetes rates continue to rise in the United States, both among adults and children, so many people chalk it all up to the American diet. We eat too many carbs. We eat fast food too much. We drink too much soda. As far as some people are concerned, diabetics are to blame for their condition.

Though diet might contribute to the development of diabetes, new research out of Spain indicates it is not that simple. We shouldn’t be quite so fast to blame fast food for the surge in diabetes diagnoses. In fact, diet was not nearly as predictive of diabetes as researchers expected. Instead, it was lack of Vitamin D that was most strongly associated with the disease.

The precise reason Vitamin D deficiency might cause diabetes is still being investigated, but researchers speculated:

• An inability to synthesize Vitamin D from sunshine could be linked to the inability to properly regulate blood sugar
• Inadequate sunshine, as many Americans suffer due to their busy work and home commitments, could be an underlying cause of both diabetes and Vitamin D deficiency
• Vitamin D aids in the regulation of blood sugar levels, and lacking Vitamin D directly affects blood glucose

Diabetes is a complicated metabolic condition, and any attempt to blame diabetics for their disease is terrible. Diabetics already have enough working against them, including the potential for amputation and other major health issues if their disease is not diagnosed quickly and treated correctly.

If you or a loved one has diabetes and suffered a bad outcome due to medical malpractice, please contact a qualified attorney. Doctors can have the same prejudice as the rest of the population, and blame the victim for suffering the illness. Only through proper education can you insure a doctor doesn’t make the same mistakes with other patients that were made with you, and it is up to you to use the legal system to persuade the doctor of the importance of that education.