When you go to the hospital or doctor’s office with symptoms that cause you pain or distress, you expect doctors to identify the cause of your symptoms. Furthermore, you trust that your primary physician will identify potential health problems you may be dealing with during your annual check-ups. However, doctors sometimes fail to diagnose medical conditions promptly. Unfortunately, failures to diagnose can have significant adverse consequences for patients, including allowing their conditions to progress. Untreated conditions can cause patients ongoing pain and symptoms and can become worse, making them harder to treat or potentially increasing the risk of death. What rights do you have if your doctor fails to diagnose a health condition?
Common Undiagnosed Conditions
Examples of illnesses and medical conditions that may go undiagnosed by healthcare professionals include:
- Cancer
- Heart attack/stroke
- Lyme disease
- Lupus
- Celiac disease
- Fibromyalgia
- Pulmonary embolism
- Appendicitis
- Hypothyroidism
- Traumatic brain injury
When Does a Failure to Diagnose Become Medical Malpractice?
A failure to diagnose does not automatically result from medical malpractice. Instead, medical malpractice requires a health professional to provide negligent care to a patient. Negligent care includes treatment that falls below the accepted standard of care. Although the standard of care will involve specific characteristics for each patient’s case, medical professionals broadly define the standard of care as the decisions or actions that other healthcare providers of similar training and experience would undertake in identical circumstances.
Thus, a failure to diagnose may become medical malpractice when it results from treatment decisions or actions taken by a patient’s doctor that other physicians in the same or similar specialty would not have made in treating the same patient. Examples of errors that may make a failure to diagnose medical malpractice include:
- Premature discharge
- Failure to take a medical history
- Failure to conduct an examination
- Failure to order diagnostic tests
- Misinterpretation of test results
- Failure to conduct a differential diagnosis
- Failure to seek a second opinion or refer to a specialist
- Failure to follow up with the patient
Your Legal Rights After a Failure to Diagnose
When your medical condition goes undiagnosed due to negligent medical care, you may have the right to seek financial recovery for losses resulting from a worsening of your condition, such as:
- Additional expenses for extended, more intensive, or more expensive medical treatment
- Costs of long-term care if you experienced prolonged or permanent impairments due to an advanced medical condition
- Lost wages from extra time you need to miss from work
- Lost earning capacity when prolonged or permanent impairments prevent you from working
- Physical pain and anguish
- Emotional trauma or distress
- Permanent disability/disfigurement or reduced life expectancy
Steps to Take If Your Doctor Failed to Diagnose Your Condition
Things you can do to protect your legal rights if your doctor failed to diagnose your medical condition on time and you suffered a worsening of your condition include:
- Seek a second medical opinion as soon as possible.
- Follow your new doctor’s treatment plan.
- Obtain copies of your medical records.
- Keep copies of bills, invoices, or receipts for medical treatment or long-term care.
- Gather copies of your pay stubs or income statements if you need to take time off work to treat your condition.
- Talk to a medical malpractice attorney to discuss your case and learn whether you may have a legal claim for a failure to diagnose.
Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
After your doctor fails to diagnose a medical condition that subsequently worsens, you may have the right to pursue financial recovery and accountability. Contact McCann Legal, PC today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a medical malpractice lawyer to discuss your rights when you become the victim of a failure-to-diagnose.