Misdiagnosis is more than failing to receive treatment in time.
It often reroutes patients onto an entirely different medical journey than what they should have received.
Too many months or years down the line and the initial condition can do permanent damage to someone’s health. By the time they’re properly diagnosed, it may be too late to reverse all of the hurt that’s been caused.
Diagnosis errors are frighteningly common…
Here’s What’s Inside:
- What Is Medical Misdiagnosis?
- Here’s What Most People Don’t Know About Misdiagnosis
- Most Commonly Misdiagnosed Conditions
- When Is Misdiagnosis A Doctor Negligence Lawsuit?
- How To Protect Yourself After A Diagnosis Mistake
What Is Medical Misdiagnosis?
Put simply: misdiagnosis is when a doctor either doesn’t correctly diagnose or diagnose at all what is wrong with someone.
It’s not always the exciting whoops-we-found-the-wrong-person moment that we see on TV. It can come in the form of a delayed diagnosis, or failure to order the correct test. Other times it’s as simple as not listening to the symptoms described by the patient.
In any case, these problems all fall under the misdiagnosis umbrella.
There are three types of misdiagnosis:
- Incorrect — the patient is diagnosed with the wrong condition
- Delayed — the correct diagnosis comes too late
- Missed — the condition never comes to diagnosis
Every type can have lifelong consequences, and grounds for a doctor negligence lawsuit.
Here’s What Most People Don’t Know About Misdiagnosis
Here’s the kicker.
Misdiagnosis doesn’t just cost patients their starting spot on the medical kickoff line. It sets them back months or years of treatment for the wrong condition.
Meaning the actual illness or disease has more time to do its damage unchecked.
That window of time where the correct treatment could have begun is the difference between life and lifelong harm. When it comes to time-sensitive conditions like cancer, stroke, or heart disease — every day matters.
Of course, filing a doctor negligence lawsuit won’t reverse that damage. But a medical malpractice lawyer helps patients hold negligent doctors accountable and recover compensation for their damages.
Long-term harm caused by misdiagnosis can include:
- Permanent disability
- Lasting physical or mental health issues
- Psychological trauma and anxiety around medical care
- Financial hardship due to treatment of the wrong condition
- Reduced quality of life
These are worst-case scenarios, sure. But upwards of 795,000 Americans are killed or permanently disabled due to diagnostic errors every year.
That should give an idea of just how common misdiagnosis really is.
Most Commonly Misdiagnosed Conditions
If you’re wondering where most of these statistics come from, you’re not alone.
A study done by Johns Hopkins tracked over 1.3 million patients to determine harm caused by diagnostic errors.
538,000 patients, or 39% of participants experienced serious misdiagnosis-related harm. Five conditions accounted for almost exactly half:
- Stroke
- Sepsis
- Pneumonia
- Venous thromboembolism
- Lung cancer
Stroke led to more harm than any other condition — at 17.5%. That’s almost twice as high as the runner-up diagnosis of sepsis at 9.5%.
A scary statistic to consider…
Both strokes and breast cancer were found to be more likely to be missed if a patient initially presented with “atypical symptoms” like dizziness/vertigo. They could just as easily describe their symptoms as weakness. But with stroke, that minor discrepancy in patients’ description of symptoms was enough to lose crucial time.
Misdiagnosis also affects women and minorities 20-30% more often than white men. The discrepancy remains after factoring in age and clinical risk factors — pointing to structural issues in the healthcare industry.
When Is Misdiagnosis A Doctor Negligence Lawsuit?
To be clear, not every misdiagnosis is the fault of the doctor.
Doctors aren’t omniscient, diagnoses are complicated. Sometimes honest mistakes will be made.
That being said, negligence is not an honest mistake.
Negligence is the failure of a doctor to provide the standard of care that another reasonable doctor would have provided in the same situation.
Things like ordering every reasonable test that could have ruled out other conditions, taking patient concerns seriously, and following up on test results fall into this category.
Examples of misdiagnosis negligence include:
- Doctors do not order a critical test that should have been ordered given symptoms
- Patients are brushed off about their concerns
- Necessary specialist referrals are not made
- Ordered test results are ignored or missed
These might sound minor in isolation. But each one represents a failure to provide the level of care that was owed.
No less than 1 in 20 American adults experiences a diagnostic error annually. That’s tens of millions of people affected by potentially life-altering mistakes. Some will never even know it happened to them.
A recent study from JAMA found that of patients who were either admitted to ICU or died in hospital, 23% of those patients had a delayed or missed diagnosis. Out of those cases, the missed diagnosis was responsible for 17% temporary and permanent patient harm.
If lasting harm was suffered due to misdiagnosis, those numbers show it’s far from an isolated experience. Filing a doctor negligence lawsuit can help seek the justice deserved and hold the doctor accountable for their actions.
How To Protect Yourself After A Diagnosis Mistake
Something doesn’t feel right? Here are some steps that can help protect both medically and legally.
- Seek a second opinion as soon as possible. This can’t be stressed enough. If what’s being said doesn’t feel right, or just doesn’t feel 100%, get another opinion to compare
- Request all medical records. Documentation of what the doctor said, what symptoms were described, what tests were ordered, and what was prescribed all matters
- Document everything going forward. From the time the misdiagnosis is discovered, write down every interaction with medical professionals including dates
- Don’t delay speaking to a lawyer. Doctor negligence lawsuits have strict time limits. Waiting too long could mean losing the ability to file
Don’t wait until the situation escalates. Take control whenever there’s a suspicion that a mistake has been made.
The Final Word On Misdiagnosis And Long-Term Health
Let’s end with a quick recap:
- Misdiagnosis can come in the form of incorrect, delayed, or missed diagnoses
- Late treatment can cause permanent health effects
- Stroke, sepsis, and lung cancer are three of the most commonly misdiagnosed conditions
- Negligence is failing to provide the standard of care that a reasonable doctor would have provided
- Time is of the essence — especially when filing a doctor negligence lawsuit
If the care received was subpar and caused lasting harm, a doctor negligence lawsuit may be the next best step toward getting the accountability that’s deserved.