Medical Malpractice

When doctors and other medical care providers take care of patients, they have a duty to use a reasonable standard of care when making decisions about diagnosis and treatment. When this standard of care is followed, serious medical conditions can be caught before they progress and become fatal. When the duty to follow this standard of care is breached, serious conditions can go undiagnosed and lead to consequences such as stroke, heart attack, or even death. When this happens, victims deserve compensation for their medical expenses, loss of wages, and pain and suffering. If you were misdiagnosed by a medical care provider, contact a personal injury attorney immediately for assistance in filing a legal claim.

Negligence can lead to medical misdiagnosis on the part of doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. Some examples of negligence that contribute to medical misdiagnosis include incorrectly interpreting the results of diagnostic tests and failure to order appropriate laboratory or diagnostic testing. One of the reasons that misdiagnosis is so dangerous is that it can delay necessary treatment for serious illnesses. For example, if cancer is misdiagnosed, there will be delay in getting the chemotherapy or radiation that is needed to eradicate the cancer and improve the patient's health. Another reason that misdiagnosis is serious is because the treatment for the misdiagnosed condition can be harmful to the patient. If someone is misdiagnosed with cancer, for example, they could be given high doses of chemotherapy. Since chemotherapy can destroy healthy cells along with cancer cells, this can wreak havoc on a healthy person's body.

While any serious medical condition can be misdiagnosed, there are some conditions that are more commonly misdiagnosed than others. Several forms of cancer that are commonly misdiagnosed include breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and testicular cancer. Strokes and heart attacks can also be diagnosed if a patient is not being cared for properly. Other examples of medical conditions that are commonly misdiagnosed include tuberculosis, diabetes, pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung), appendicitis, and bacterial meningitis.

Many people think that misdiagnosis of a condition is immediate grounds for a personal injury suit. However, doctors are not expected to diagnose every condition as soon as it begins because many conditions are asymptomatic until they are advanced or the symptoms of those conditions may be similar to the symptoms of less serious conditions. Negligence has only occurred if another reasonable doctor with similar training would have diagnosed the condition using the information available. If another doctor would have diagnosed your condition based on the results of tests or a physical examination, then you may be able to file a claim for medical misdiagnosis.

We understand that dealing with a medical misdiagnosis can be difficult physically and emotionally. At GAINES, GRUNER, PONZINI & NOVICK, LLP, we can work with you to determine the best course of action to pursue in handling your medical misdiagnosis case. Our attorneys and staff members will work with you at every step of your case to ensure that you understand what is happening and how it can affect the outcome of your claim.