HIRE A MEDICAL MISDIAGNOSIS MALPRACTICE LAWYER

HIRE A MEDICAL MISDIAGNOSIS MALPRACTICE LAWYER

Most people will surprise to learn that medical misdiagnosis accounts for a staggering quarter of all fatal illnesses. However, not every instance of medical misdiagnosis has disastrous results. A medical misdiagnosis may result in the patient’s condition worsening further and cause undue anxiety, stress, and even death. Additionally, a non-fatal misdiagnosis also causes a massive wastage of precious money, time, therapy, and tests. The patient may experience side effects due to their unneeded medications if they are misdiagnosed with the wrong illness.

What are the Different Types of Medical Misdiagnosis?

• Side effects of a medication being mistaken for an illness.
• Failure to provide an accurate diagnosis within a reasonable time
• Accurate diagnosis of the condition without proper identification of the underlying cause.
• Diagnosis of the wrong disease

A medical malpractice lawsuit has three crucial elements that need to be confirmed conclusively:

1. The physician was providing medical advice to the patient for their symptoms, condition, or treatments.
2. Suppose the doctor was negligent in his actions. How will this be proven? Doctors use a set system to formulate a diagnosis. They will prepare a comprehensive list of conditions that fit the symptoms displayed by the patient. The patient is undergoing specific diagnostic tests to rule out or confirm possible diseases/disorders. After this, one of the following five things will happen:
   • The doctor makes the correct diagnosis.
   • The doctor makes the wrong diagnosis because the right one isn’t on his list, whereas any prudent, knowledgeable, and reasonable doctor would not have done so.
   • Or the doctor did not select the right diagnostic tests, leading to an inaccurate diagnosis, though the proper diagnosis was actually in his list of possible diagnoses.
   • The results were faulty due to malfunctioning diagnostic equipment.
   • Human errors, such as an incorrect interpretation of the diagnostic results or test result mix-ups, led to inaccurate results.
3. The physician’s negligent actions resulted in the patient sustaining unnecessary suffering and injuries.

Here’s a list containing the thirteen most frequently misdiagnosed conditions/diseases/illnesses in the healthcare field:

• Tuberculosis
• Testicular cancer
• Stroke
• Pulmonary Embolism
• Prostate Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Acute Myocardial Infarction
• Meningitis
• Lung cancer
• Diabetes
• Cervical cancer
• Breast cancer
• Appendicitis

Did you or one of your loved ones suffer from a worsening health condition because of a doctor’s medical misdiagnosis? Please know that you might be eligible to claim damages. Our experienced medical experts at Rozhik Law Firm will review every fact related to your case to check whether there is any benefit to be gain by filing a medical malpractice case. Our firm takes on cases on a generous contingency fee basis, which means you don’t need to pay anything unless you receive a fair compensation or settlement offer.

What’s the difference between a missed diagnosis and a misdiagnosis?

While a missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis might seem similar to a layman, there are a few key differences. Both of them do have certain similarities. Both of them result in needless anguish and pain for the patient. And both of them can lead to medical malpractice lawsuits.

A missed diagnosis is when the doctor assures the patient that their health is excellent. But they are still suffering their medical condition in reality. Misdiagnosis is one where the doctor provides an inaccurate diagnosis to the patient. If the misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis increased a patient’s suffering, the patient could file a medical malpractice case for compensation. Dealing with a medical malpractice lawsuit may seem overwhelming at times due to the legal complexities involved in this field. Attorneys interested in handling medical malpractice lawsuits must recognize that it is a complicated and resource-intensive field to battle.

Is It Difficult to Prove A Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?

Misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis may result in catastrophic difficulties for the patient. Misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis isn’t sufficient grounds on its own for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Three key elements need to prove by the patient to win the case successfully, which are:

• There was a legitimate doctor-patient relationship.
• There was negligence on the part of the doctor.
• This negligence on the doctor’s part resulted in the patient suffering an injury.

A negligence lawsuit depends on whether the physician followed the proper protocols relating to patient evaluation and diagnosis formulation. The doctors will evaluate the patient Medical malpractice lawsuits where a diagnosis error resulted in the patient’s suffering based on how another physician with similar qualifications and a similar situation would have reacted. To put it simply, the patient needs to conclusively prove that their doctor could not offer treatment with the competency and skill generally expected of a qualified and experienced medical professional operating in a similar or the same medical field in a similar situation.

It’s essential to take the doctor’s methodology to make his diagnosis into consideration to prove that the missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis occurred due to negligence. Doctors employ the differential diagnosis method for determining the disease/condition that is afflicting their patients. The doctor will consider the patient’s medical history, symptoms, complaints, and other factors before performing a direct physical examination of the patient’s body. After this, they will prepare a detailed list of possible conditions. Additional diagnostic tests and evaluations will conduct to zero in on the patient’s condition.

The doctor may also do the following:

• Requesting more information regarding the patient’s symptoms.
• Performing additional radiological or laboratory testing.
• Investigation of the patient’s history.
• Other specialists may refer the patient.

Errors in the diagnostic tests may also have tampered with this process. In such cases, an investigation will carry out to determine whether human error or malfunctioning medical equipment led to this situation. Some diagnostic errors may clear the doctor’s name from the medical malpractice lawsuit, shifting the blame to the lab technician in charge or another party.

Any one of the following three elements will have to be conclusively shown by the patient to prove the doctor’s negligence in arriving at the right diagnosis:

• The doctor didn’t employ the differential diagnosis method correctly, resulting in a misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis.
• The doctor didn’t consider all the possible conditions in their differential diagnosis list, which any reasonably prudent doctor would have included in a similar situation.
• Or the doctor did not order the right tests to confirm or discard these possibilities.

In general, an expert witness’s testimony will require to see whether the doctor used the right differential diagnosis methods and if he did everything a reasonably prudent physician in his shoes would have done.

If negligence proves on the part of the doctor, there remains the issue of causation. Causation happens to be another essential but troublesome element to confirm in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Merely proving that a diagnosis error took place isn’t sufficient. The patient must also prove the missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis to have directly harmed the patient. Along with evidence that the right diagnosis would have helped them avoid this unnecessary suffering. The suffering caused due to a missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis. Generally due to the patient being given the wrong medical treatments for the wrong diagnosis, resulting in a steady worsening of the patient’s illness. Such errors result in the patient suffering unnecessarily or may even lead to other medical issues unrelated to the patient’s actual diagnosis.

Most medical malpractice suits get defeat due to the causation angle. The patient has to prove that their suffering wasn’t just due to their existing medical condition. The unnecessary suffering must have been caused directly by the doctor’s mistake. It must prove that if the doctor had issued the right diagnosis would have avoided this suffering. Since the patient is already stricken with an illness it’s necessary to prove that they suffered from additional pain purely due to the incorrect diagnosis. And that their pain was not a result of their existing medical condition.

Why Are Lawyers Wary of Taking Medical Malpractice Lawsuits?

A lot of lawyers prefer not to work on medical malpractice lawsuits. Obtaining sufficient proof of medical malpractice is hard enough as it is. While the patient may have suffered from additional injuries, the onus is on them to prove that it was the doctor’s negligence that caused these injuries. Proving causation happens to be another giant obstacle as well.

The lawyers who do handle medical malpractice lawsuits are too picky as well.

That’s because a medical malpractice lawsuit is exceptionally complicated and requires many resources, which many lawyers are unable to commit. Professional liability insurance companies that ensure medical professionals tend to have an army of highly qualified and experienced lawyers make it a daunting challenge.

Aside from being overwhelming for most lawyers, medical malpractice lawsuits are quite expensive as well. Even starting an investigation into a medical malpractice case will require substantial upfront costs. Qualified and experienced medical experts will need to investigate and analyze the relevant medical records as well. The paperwork involved is massive, and the lawyer needs to possess a firm grasp of the laws applicable to the medical field.

Although medical malpractice lawsuits may seem unwinnable most of the time, attorneys with the right skillset and resources are often capable of transforming their client’s lives. They help bring them the justice they deserve, thus allowing their clients to win compensation for all the suffering and pain they’ve had to endure due to the medical misdiagnosis.