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A 2013 report states that misdiagnosis and wrong diagnoses made up the lion’s share of all medical malpractice cases between 1986 and 2010. This is a surprising and unexpected piece of statistics given the fact that we assume physicians undergo intense medical training that makes them competent health providers that would never do any harm. Medical malpractice lawsuits are growing with each passing year, and innocent citizens are often left with life-changing complications that can be costly to rectify as well as traumatizing.

Medical misdiagnosis can take on various forms:

• Failure to screen for a specific medical condition
• Misinterpreting lab results
• Failure to have you referred to specialists
• Failure to spend enough time with you to address your medical symptoms
• Failure to follow up with any test results.

Differential Method and Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

It is important to note that just because a doctor misdiagnosed you doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. There are various conditions that must be met which we’ll take a look at shortly. Before we do that, doctors usually go through something called “differential diagnosis” where they will list a number of symptoms that you present with and align them with a certain diagnosis after which they will order a number of tests to confirm their suspicions. Once the tests come in, they will cross off any condition until the right one is discovered. Failure by the doctor to employ this method may point to negligence by way of arrogance or laziness, things which may open them up to a misdiagnosis lawsuit.

Medical Misdiagnosis Lawsuit Conditions

In order to sue for this type of  medical injury, you must show that there was an established doctor-patient relationship at the time of treatment. Second, you must show a direct causation between the doctor’s negligence and your misdiagnosis. Third, you must have suffered some kind of harm or injury as a result of this misdiagnosis. These three legal tenets aren’t easy to prove as they require the collection of evidence, something a good medical malpractice attorney can help you with.

Medical Error Attorney Help

If you suffered an injury in a hospital due to medical misdiagnosis, you have every right to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Please call us today on 877-561-3004 for your free consultation. We work on a contingency fee basis, so we’ll only charge you a fee if we win your case for you. Thanks for choosing us.