Failure to Diagnose
Improper Diagnosis Can Lead to harmful consequences
A diagnosis is a critical step in the overall treatment of a patient. It guides medical professionals on the next steps and allows them to prescribe proper medication and schedule necessary surgery.
Whenever there is a failure to diagnose, whether lack of diagnosis or wrong diagnosis, a patient can experience severe consequences.
You deserve proper and adequate care whenever you visit a medical professional. We represent patients who have had experience with a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose.
Give us a call at (405) 849-5414 or book a consultation to speak with a lawyer who understands what you have been through.
Errors in Diagnosis
No diagnosis
A failure to diagnose occurs if a medical professional treated you but failed to recognize symptoms of a serious condition or other illness and did not provide you with necessary treatment. You never get treated for the condition you have. This can also occur if medical staff dismiss your symptoms and do not take further action. If your condition gets worse because they did not recognize it or believe your symptoms, you may have a case.
Examples of Failure to Diagnose
You go into the emergency department for a sprained ankle. You tell the nurse that you have chest pains. The nurse ignores your complaints or a doctor dismisses them and fails to order an EKG. You have a heart attack.
Your child breaks his ribs in a football game. The doctor fails to diagnose a loose shard of bone. It becomes lodged in the soft tissue in his chest and causes internal bleeding.
Misdiagnosis
A doctor may diagnose you with the wrong condition and provide treatment for that condition. Your actual illness or injury never gets treated and treatment for the wrong condition can be extremely harmful to you especially if it includes surgery or strong medication.
Examples of Misdiagnosis
Let's go back to the emergency department for your sprained ankle. This time the nurse and the doctor both acknowledge your complaints of chest pain. Instead of ordering an EKG, the doctor tells you that you have indigestion. The doctor gives you an antacid. You go home and have a heart attack later that night.
Your doctor finds a lump in your kidney. You are told that the lump is malignant and that you have cancer of the kidney. You have a surgery to remove the kidney but are later told that the lump was actually a kidney stone.
Delayed Diagnosis
You may receive a diagnosis for a serious condition that could have been prevented if treated sooner. A doctor may fail to diagnose a patient with the correct illness in a timely manner which causes that patient harm that could have been prevented. Delayed diagnosis can lead to worsening of the condition and potentially cause permanent damage. If a doctor of competent standard of care provided treatment in a timely manner, the condition could have been treated without complications or not developed further.
Examples of Delayed Diagnosis
You go to the doctor because you are exhibiting symptoms. Your doctor fails to recognize that they are symptoms of cancer. The doctor doesn't test for the cancer and fails to diagnose it for months. By the time the doctor does make the correct diagnosis, the cancer has progressed to an untreatable degree of severity.
You are taken to the emergency department and cannot breathe properly. The staff is trained to open your airway with intubation. They fail to do so and you suffer a brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation.
Have You Experienced an Improper Diagnosis?
If you or a loved one experienced harm because of a failure to diagnose, it is important to speak with an attorney as soon as possible. We will evaluate your case for free and help you seek maximum recovery. Call us at (405) 849-5414 or book a consultation today.