What is Misdiagnosis—and is it Always Medical Malpractice?
If you’ve received a misdiagnosis or had a care provider miss a diagnosis completely, it’s normal to feel misled and mistreated by your care team. When you seek medical care, you deserve to know that your doctor takes your concerns seriously and makes a good-faith effort to diagnose you accurately. When they don’t and you suffer as a result, it may be time to talk to the Southern California medical malpractice lawyers at DeWitt Algorri & Algorri.
The consequences of a misdiagnosis can be devastating for the patient and their loved ones. They may suffer delayed treatment, undergo unnecessary treatment, and even make their actual underlying condition worse.
As a victim of malpractice, you deserve aggressive, experienced representation. Our firm has been serving Southern California plaintiffs for over forty years, and we have a long list of multimillion-dollar verdicts won for our clients. We stay up-to-date on all legal changes affecting malpractice claims to provide you with the best service possible. Our attorneys have extensive experience and knowledge both in settlement negotiations and in the courtroom, so we have what it takes to fight for you—wherever your case leads. Call our medical malpractice lawyers at 855-WINNING (946-6464) to set up a consultation now.
Understanding Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis has long been an issue in medical settings, and when it happens, patients end up paying the price. There are several ways this issue may manifest. A doctor may completely fail to diagnose a patient with anything, diagnose them with the wrong condition, or diagnose them with the right condition later than they reasonably should have. All of these have their consequences for patients.
If a patient goes to the doctor for help with worrying symptoms, only to receive no diagnosis, they may feel relieved that they’re healthy. Until they seek a second opinion, their condition may continue to become more severe. This often means that their condition requires more invasive or painful treatment. The worst case scenario is that they never seek a second opinion and pass away from their health issue before it is recognized. A delayed diagnosis results in the same issue. An incorrect diagnosis may mean that a patient undergoes treatment for the wrong condition. Not only does this not do anything for their actual health issue, but the treatment itself may also be harmful.
When Misdiagnosis is Malpractice
Medical malpractice is an incredibly complex area of law, and it’s important to realize that not every misdiagnosis is malpractice. Certain conditions must be met for a misdiagnosis to fit in this category. Some common issues that may indicate malpractice include:
- Failure to follow the standard of care: This may be seen in doctors that have been practicing for a long time and believe they know what is happening before they’ve spoken to the patient. They may overlook patients’ symptoms, assume that the patient is exaggerating or misinformed, or give their diagnosis before getting any other information.
- Ordering the wrong tests or misinterpreting them: If a doctor does not order the imaging tests another doctor would in the same scenario, that is a red flag. Similarly, many malpractice claims come from the misinterpretation of imaging scans.
- Ignoring the patient’s medical history or failing to consider its role: A patient’s symptoms do not happen within a vacuum. The patient’s medical history, previous diagnoses, and familial medical history should all play a role in the diagnoses a doctor considers and what tests they order.
Situations Where Misdiagnosis is Not Malpractice
In some cases, misdiagnosis is essentially unavoidable and is not considered medical malpractice. If a diagnosis is extremely rare or easy to confuse with other diagnoses, the doctor may not have been negligent. Some diseases have symptoms that mimic those of much less severe diagnoses, which inevitably leads to some missed diagnoses. It also may not be medical malpractice if test results or imaging scans were inconclusive or very close to the normal range. A lot depends on what the standard of care is. The legal question is this: would another care provider with similar experience and education, facing the same evidence and symptoms, act in a way similar to what this care provider did? If there is a large disparity between the two approaches, medical malpractice may have occurred.
Hold Negligent Care Providers Accountable with the Medical Malpractice Lawyers at DeWitt Algorri & Algorri
We understand how upsetting and frightening a misdiagnosis can be. If your healthcare provider was negligent, let us hold them accountable. Take the first step in your claim now by calling our medical malpractice attorneys at 855-WINNING (946-6464) or reaching out to us online.
Mark Algorri has successfully represented individuals and their families in matters involving serious and catastrophic injuries, insurance claims denials, and wrongful deaths, achieving a success rate of 99 percent for our clients.
