Failure to Diagnose
The Importance of Properly Identifying Medical Conditions
It is unrealistic to expect your symptoms to be treated correctly if they are not diagnosed correctly. Unfortunately, ailing individuals are unable to diagnose themselves because they lack the proper medical training and professional experience to do so accurately. Diagnosis and treatment are the responsibilities of a medical professional; however, not always are doctors correct in their assessments and prescribed courses of treatment for the patients under their care.
A number of circumstances could result in a doctor's failure to diagnose. Although some conditions are difficult to identify, there are many more that exhibit standard warning signs that can be used to discern the specific course of treatment that should be taken. Medical professionals are educated and professionally trained to be capable of recognizing the common symptoms of many different health conditions. When they are unfamiliar with a set of symptoms, it is expected that they will use the appropriate methods of examination and testing to rule out severe conditions upfront.
What leads to failure to diagnose?
Many circumstances could contribute to a doctor's ultimate failure to diagnose a medical condition. Determining the true case of the failure is a crucial aspect to building a medical malpractice case, and as such, it is a task that should not be undertaken by anyone other than a qualified legal professional. Aside from general negligence, failure to diagnose a medical condition can stem from:
- Conducting an inadequate physical examination
- Disregarding a patient's input and / or complaints
- Overlooking potential indications of a serious problem
- Neglecting regular screenings and testing procedures
- Failing to order necessary medical tests
- Delaying a patient's referral to a specialist in the field
- Misdiagnosing symptoms as something other than what they are
- Misunderstanding / misinterpreting test results
- Failing to provide satisfactory aftercare to a patient
Most of these causes can be directly related to signs of medical negligence. Generally, when a physician does not take the appropriate steps expected of him / her, the results that follow are serious, even detrimental to the patients under their care. This kind of medical negligence is symptomatic of behaviors that reflect unprofessional and unethical standards - in essence, behaviors that deserve to be taken to court and exposed for their inconsistencies.
What You Can Do
Misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose are serious problems in the medical field, and currently, they account for nearly half of all medical malpractice claims and lawsuits in the U.S. Whether a physician failed to identify and diagnose a medical condition at all, or he / she failed to identify it properly and then prescribe the correct form of treatment, the failure remains. In some cases, identifying a set of symptoms incorrectly can be even more detrimental than not identifying them at all.
Claims of failure to diagnose are complex because they are often difficult to prove in court. It can be easily argued that one person's interpretation of a failure to diagnose does not align with the true definition of the phrase. Therefore, victims of medical malpractice who wish to make a claim of this nature need to do so under the direction of an experienced attorney at DominaLaw Group.
For every case that we represent, a new approach is taken that uniquely reflects the personal aspects of a client's individual situation. In this way, we can ensure that our clients are provided with every opportunity for success both in the court room and out. Whether your doctor failed to take notice of unnatural symptoms or they chose to disregard the warning signs that you described to them, we can work with you to create a compelling story that will be related to the court. Contact DominaLaw Group to learn more.