Misdiagnosis
Medical Malpractice Resulting from Failure ot Diagnose or Misdiagnosis
People suffering from symptoms associated with heart attacks, strokes, or other serious illnesses need attentive physicians who order the appropriate diagnostic treatment. If doctors fail take the time necessary to properly diagnosis symptoms or order the needed tests, serious complications can result, including death. A misdiagnosis case may arise when a serious condition is not identified and symptoms are attributed to a different health problem.
This occurs frequently when appropriate diagnostic tests are not ordered, particularly in emergency rooms, due to time or cost considerations. A failure to diagnose claim is similar, but typically involves a care provider who fails to properly recognize the results of diagnostic testing such as misreading a biopsy slide or x-ray image.
How This Works
A careful case review will be performed by your lawyer to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your case. Then the conclusions of this review are presented to you in a thorough, understandable manner.
For more details: Litigation Process.
Many medical conditions may be missed by an untrained or impatient treating physician, or misdiagnosed for lack of proper testing. Frequently the condition which is not identified is life-threatening, such as a serious head injury, pulmonary embolism or an aneurysm. The double – vulnerability of the victim makes these cases particularly serious – the underlying untreated condition is worsening while unnecessary treatment is possibly given for the wrong diagnosis.
$10 million
for failure to find brain tumor
Also, a correct and timely diagnosis can help your doctor take the steps necessary to prevent further injury. Many emergency rooms are not equipped to deal with a stroke victim and have not received Primary Stroke Center Certification from the American Stroke Association. Unfortunately, these non-certified facilities often fail to diagnose the stroke, or they offer negligent care, resulting in serious permanent impairments for the stroke victim.