Misdiagnosis as a Form of Medical Malpractice

If a medical professional fails to make an accurate or timely diagnosis, a patient could experience some very serious complications. Most often, a patient will not receive any treatment or in other cases a patient might receive treatment for a condition that they do not even have. In many types of misdiagnosis cases, a patient has a strong basis on which to build a medical malpractice case. Not all diagnostic errors, however, are the basis for a lawsuit because there are some medical conditions that even reasonably skilled physicians or specialists are not able to diagnose. Instead, the misdiagnosis in question must have been the result of a medical professional’s negligent actions. In these situations, an experienced medical malpractice attorney like attorney Randolph Rice knows how to make sure that parties are held responsible for the various damages that can arise.

What Constitutes Medical Misdiagnosis

Misdiagnosis can arise in numerous situations. The most common way in which misdiagnosis tends to occur involves delayed diagnosis and mismanagement of diagnostic testing. Some of the most common examples of medical misdiagnosis include:

• Failing to order an appropriate test for a patient’s disease or illness
• Failing to properly communicate and listen to a patient describe symptoms
• Failing to properly investigate causes of a patient’s symptoms
• Failing to refer a patient to a specialist
• Failing to screen a patient for a particular medical condition
• Misinterpreting lab test results

Establishing the Grounds for a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Not all errors involving misdiagnosis are medical malpractice. There are still some diseases and medical conditions that are too difficult to reliably diagnose all of the time. To establish a medical malpractice when misdiagnosis is involved, a person must show three things:

• Doctor Patient Relationship. To establish a medical malpractice lawsuit, it must be shown that a patient had a relationship with their medical provider. This relationship just means that a person saw a medical professional, who agreed to diagnose and treat the person.
• Negligence by the Medical Professional. Even highly skilled medical professionals can make diagnostic errors when practicing medicine. To show that negligence occurred, it must be demonstrated that a medical provider acted carelessly or outside the standards of care accepted by the medical community. In many cases, when making an assessment of a patient’s condition, medical professionals diagnose a person’s condition by considering all possible conditions and ruling out each possibility. When deciding if negligence occurred, a skilled medical malpractice attorney will determine how a reasonably skilled medical provider would have responded in the same situation. If other medical providers  would have made an accurate diagnosis, medical malpractice is likely.
• Establishing Harm. After proving that a medical professional negligently diagnosed a patient, it is important to prove that a patient suffered harm as a result. A patient must establish that if they had received the appropriate diagnosis, they would not have been injured. Many times, the harm incurred by misdiagnosis is that a person ends up experiencing a much more advanced medical condition than they otherwise would have, which sometimes means that a person sometimes must undergo medical procedures that they would not have had to face.

Speak with a Seasoned Medical Malpractice Attorney Today

If you or a loved one were misdiagnosed by a medical professional and believe that medical malpractice occurred, contact an attorney at the Law Offices of Randolph Rice to help pursue compensation. Attorney Rice will fight for the compensation that you deserve for any resulting damages including lost wages, medical bills, and emotional suffering. Do not hesitate to speak to our law office today.

Delayed Diagnosis

Delayed Diagnosis

In today’s modern climate of medicine, many recent breakthroughs have made it possible to care for patients at a rate and manner that was never believed possible. With all illnesses, early intervention is the best way to avoid facing complications. For example, if a person is able to catch cancer early enough then there is much less of chance that the illness will spread through a person’s body and advance into later stages and other organs. As a result, it can be particularly frustrating when a physician or other

medical provider fails to promptly diagnose a person’s signs and symptoms.

Delayed diagnosis can have particularly tragic consequences. Sometimes, failure to promptly diagnose a condition can result in the illness becoming too advanced to be treated effectively. If you are impacted by a delayed diagnosis that resulted in you having to combat a condition that was otherwise preventable, it is important to remember that you likely have a strong claim on which to base a medical malpractice case. A seasoned attorney like the legal counsel at the Law Office of Randolph Rice can help make sure that your case is as strong as possible so that you receive the compensation that you deserve for your injuries.

Common Causes of Delayed Diagnosis

Many people trust medical professionals to properly recognize systems, order adequate tests, and correctly diagnose a condition. Unfortunately, there are number of negligent ways in which medical professionals can end up failing to diagnose a condition. Some of the most common reasons why patients receive a delayed diagnosis include:

• Failure to admit a patient for emergency treatment
• Failure to diagnose known or likely complications
• Failure to follow accepted post-surgical standards
• Failure to note patient complaints
• Failure to order the appropriate test
• Failure to recognize the most serious diagnosis
• Failure to refer a patient to the appropriate specialist
• Failure to respond to serious complications during delivery
• Failure to treat a heart attack in a timely fashion
• Lost paperwork
• Medical chart errors
• Misreading diagnostic imaging, medical charts, or test results.

Consequences of Delayed Diagnosis

Sometimes, a delayed diagnosis does not result in much harm to a patient. In many cases, however, a patient’s health can become much worse as the result of a delayed diagnosis. In the cases of cancer, the condition can further spread through a person’s body resulting in a condition that is harder to treat with available methods like chemotherapy and radiation. Heart condition if not properly treated with early intervention can result in complications like bypass surgery, which is a particularly invasive surgery that requires a long period of time to recover. In other cases of delayed diagnosis, a patient might experience complications like blindness, nerve damage, paralysis, the loss of internal organs, or the need for amputations due to complications associated with later forms of a disease.

Discover How a Medical Malpractice Attorney Can Help Your Case

Each year, a large number of patients are impacted by delayed diagnosis which turns easily treated conditions into much larger obstacles. If you or a loved one has been impacted by a medical provider’s negligence, a seasoned medical malpractice attorney can help you navigate the process of pursuing a malpractice claim. At the Law Offices of Randolph Rice we will review the facts of your case and determine what your best options are for obtaining the compensation that you deserve. Our legal counsel can also collect important evidence about your claim which includes expert witness testimony and medical records. While medical malpractice cases can prove to be particularly challenging, attorney Rice will remain committed to obtaining the compensation you deserve. Contact our law office today for assistance.