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Today’s medicine has not yet reached a prefect state where every diagnosis can be correct. Misdiagnosis is still possible even with the most diligent and conscientious care, but a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis is often a sign that medical malpractice has occurred. If your doctor or the laboratory performed below the accepted standard of care, resulting in misdiagnosis, and that misdiagnosis caused you harm, you may be able to recover compensation for medical malpractice.
Examples of Medical Malpractice Leading to Misdiagnosis and Failure to Diagnose
Some common examples of medical negligence and mistakes which can lead to diagnostic error include:
- Errors in recording intake interview
- Failure to consider patient’s medical history and family history
- Failure to respond to symptoms reported by patient
- Failure to consider known risk factors in a patient
- Failure to recognize early warning signs
- Failure to order appropriate tests
- Improper administration of tests
- Laboratory error
- Improper reading of test results
- Discharging emergency room patients too soon
- Failure to follow up with patient
Misdiagnosis Causing Harm
In order to have a medical malpractice claim, the misdiagnosis must have caused you harm. For instance:
- Failure to diagnose heart attack in the emergency room, and sending the patient home without the proper treatment, can lead to a second, more severe heart attack.
- Delayed diagnosis of cancer can mean that more aggressive and extensive treatment is necessary, and can even mean that an otherwise survivable cancer has progressed to the point that it is no longer treatable.
- Being diagnosed with a condition you do not have can mean undergoing expensive and harmful medical treatments.
To learn more about misdiagnosis and medical malpractice, call us today at (312) 313-2888.