Many people put their trust in healthcare professionals to treat an injury or a specific medical condition. However, mistakes can and do occur, unfortunately. Often considered the most common, most costly, and most dangerous of medical errors, a missed or delayed diagnosis prevents a patient from receiving appropriate medical treatment to prevent his or her ailment from worsening. A misdiagnosis is only considered medical malpractice when a physician acted negligently and took action that another doctor would not have taken given the same circumstances. This can be difficult to prove, but an experienced personal injury attorney can help uncover evidence of this negligence.
Reasons for a Missed Diagnosis or Misdiagnosis
There are several ways that a medical mistake can happen, and although most are unintentional, they can have profound effects on a patient. In some cases, a missed or misdiagnosis can leave someone in worse health than they were before visiting the doctor or hospital. In addition, the timing of it can be critical depending on his or her condition. For example, the timely diagnosis for advanced diseases such as cancer is crucial to provide the necessary treatment such as chemotherapy or radiation, which can stop a malignant tumor from growing or spreading to other body parts.
Besides human error, a few of the main issues that can cause a diagnostic error are:
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