When a healthcare provider fails to timely recognize, properly diagnose, and/or appropriately treat a patient’s condition, the results can be serious and life-threatening. These missed opportunities may mean the difference between health and sickness and life or death. In that case, you need a seasoned malpractice attorney.
Physicians, nurses, surgeons, and other medical care providers must diagnose and treat patients in accordance with the appropriate medical standard of care. With respect to the diagnosis of medical conditions, treating physicians must do everything possible to ensure he or she meets this standard.
There are certain indicators commonly identified in instances where physicians fall short of the appropriate medical standard of care regarding patient diagnosis, including a failure to listen to a patient’s concerns; ignoring or missing certain signs and symptoms; failure to order diagnostic tests; failure to consult with other doctors and specialists; a failure to properly read diagnostic tests; and more. Contact our Connecticut medical misdiagnosis attorneys to get your questions answered.
Misdiagnosis is considered a form of medical malpractice as it can have serious and deadly consequences. Claims of delayed diagnoses (a type of misdiagnosis) are the most frequently pursued medical malpractice legal actions throughout the United States and Connecticut. This is largely due to the fact that the early diagnosis of many conditions, especially cancer, is critical in increasing the chances of patient survival.
The failure to timely diagnose medical conditions can decrease or eliminate the chances of a patient’s ability to receive effective treatment. Once that window of time closes, effective treatment may no longer be an option.
Any type of medical condition may be misdiagnosed if a treating physician or other medical care provider fails to pay attention or is negligent in some other way when it comes to patient care. And, while not all instances of misdiagnosis rise to the level of medical malpractice, there are many instances of misdiagnosis that certainly do constitute medical malpractice.
Some of the conditions that are commonly misdiagnosed as other conditions include, but are not limited to, the following:
If you or someone you love has suffered as a result of a delayed or missed diagnosis, you may be entitled to compensation for your pain and suffering, as well as medical expenses and other financial damages.
Wrong Diagnosis: In these situations, a treating physician diagnoses a patient with the wrong medical condition and administers the wrong treatment and medication. As a result, a patient may never receive the medical care necessary to treat the actual condition.
Missed Diagnosis: In these cases, a treating physician provides a patient with a clean bill of health, when in reality, a medical condition exists and continues to progress without treatment. Missed diagnoses often result from a physician’s failure to properly observe and/or further investigate a patient’s symptoms. A missed diagnosis may mean the difference between an easily-treatable condition and serious complications and even wrongful death.
Delayed Diagnosis: In these situations, a treating physician makes a correct diagnosis – eventually – thus resulting in a significant delay of necessary medical treatment. Each day the physician delays a correct diagnosis, the patient’s condition worsens, additional problems may arise, and irreversible damage may occur.
No doctor is perfect and some diseases and conditions are extremely difficult to diagnose. However, perfection is not the standard of care when it comes to diagnosing patients. What is expected is that a treating physician adheres to the accepted standard of medical care that has been predetermined by the local, relevant medical community.
In misdiagnosis cases, plaintiffs must demonstrate sufficiently that doctors with the same type of training in the same general geographical location would have diagnosed a condition differently than the defendant physician. Essentially, the victim must show that the physician was negligent when misdiagnosing, delaying to diagnose, or failing to diagnose a patient’s condition.
It is also important to note that the missed, delayed, or failed diagnosis itself may not rise to the level of medical malpractice. It is only medical malpractice if the improper diagnosis results in delayed treatment, improper treatment, or lack of treatment which then directly results in further harm to the patient (i.e., worsening of condition; development of new condition; etc.)
Some allegations of misdiagnosis medical malpractice are more commonly made by injured patients than others, including the following:
In all of these instances, the actions or inactions of the treating physician and/or hospital are analyzed to determine whether the applicable medical standard of care was adhered to or not.
Misdiagnosis medical malpractice cases are difficult to prove and involve complex legal and medical concepts and inquiries. Sufficiently demonstrating that a misdiagnosis directly caused your injuries requires the skill of our experienced and knowledgeable Connecticut medical misdiagnosis lawyers.
Moreover, in order to initiate a medical malpractice case, such as one based on misdiagnosis, Connecticut law mandates that the injured party’s attorney first conducts a reasonable and thorough investigation to determine if, in good faith, a viable claim exists. The experienced medical malpractice legal team at Berkowitz Hanna has extensive experience reviewing and investigating medical records, witness statements, applicable statutes and case law, and seeking medical opinions regarding the facts, the applicable standard of medical care, and causation.
We pledge to provide you with a thorough and honest assessment of your case and our educated opinion as to whether a viable claim exists.
If you believe that you or a loved one suffered injuries resulting from a misdiagnosis of a medical condition, you should speak with an attorney about your legal rights.
Contact our Connecticut misdiagnosis lawyers today to find out how we can help your case. We are prepared to handle misdiagnosis medical malpractice cases throughout the state. We handle these types of cases on a contingency basis. That means that you need to pay us a fee only if you win.
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