Can You Sue a Doctor for Misdiagnosis?
Can you sue a doctor for misdiagnosis? This is a common question and luckily, we have the answer.
Read further on for details.
Introduction
So, what is worse than being sick? Being misdiagnosed by your doctor.
As consumers, we look to doctors to provide us with expert information as far as diagnosing and treating medical conditions. We put our trust in them to treat us to the best of their ability – so that we may heal and be healthy once again. Most of the time, this works just fine. Other times, however, a doctor may end up providing you with a misdiagnosis – and then treating you for the wrong illness or condition, too.
Is it done due to an honest mistake? Did the doctor feel that it was the right diagnosis? Was it due to negligence? Was the doctor distracted or rushed when reading lab reports and making informed decisions regarding your health?
There are so many different reasons that a misdiagnosis can occur – but it doesn’t make it any easier on the patient, does it? So, what is your recourse? Can you sue a doctor for misdiagnosis? We’re about to find out.
When Misdiagnosis Becomes Medical Malpractice
Mistakes can happen in any industry – including the medical field. Sometimes doctors have to try different things in order to find the proper diagnosis, which could mean a wrong diagnosis first. And you can’t really sue for misdiagnosis in many of these situations. But when the misdiagnosis is negligent and the patient actually suffered harm from it, it then becomes a potential medical malpractice case.
A misdiagnosis can become a big problem. Not only could you be taking medication for something you don’t have – which could potentially cause other issues – but you are delaying the diagnosis of your correct condition, as well as delaying its proper treatment.
What does all this mean? Well, a failure to diagnose or a delayed/missed diagnosis cannot automatically result in a lawsuit or be able to be considered medical malpractice. You have to be able to prove that the negligence occurred.
What Does a Misdiagnosis Look Like?
You may think that a misdiagnosis can be your doctor telling you that you have a tension headache when it is really eyestrain. Or if your doctor tells you that you have the flu rather than a mild case of food poisoning. But a misdiagnosis can appear in many different ways, such as:
- Carelessly reviewing or interpreting lab results.
- Not ordering the right proper lab or diagnostic tests.
- Failing to thoroughly examine the patient.
- Misdiagnosing something minor, or something as serious as a heart attack or cancer.
- Poor communication.
- Failed reporting system to keep those treating the patient informed.
- Lack of research.
It could be a delayed diagnosis, a missed diagnosis, a failure to recognize complications, and so forth. If you think you have been misdiagnosed, it is best to have an attorney review the details of your case to determine whether or not you have grounds for a legal claim.
Commonly misdiagnosed medical conditions include:
- Heart attacks can easily be dismissed as panic attacks or indigestion.
- Lupus can be misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome.
- Someone with asthma may be treated with bronchitis.
- Those with Lyme disease can be misdiagnosed with mononucleosis.
And that’s just to name a few.
Damages Awarded for a Misdiagnosis
If your attorney believes that you have a case when it comes to your misdiagnosis, looking at the potential damages is how you can tell just how much your lawsuit is worth. We understand that you can’t truly put a dollar amount on the impact that a misdiagnosis has on your life. You can’t know exactly how life would have turned out had you been diagnosed properly in the first place. But an experienced attorney will be able to review the specific details surrounding your claim and help you to determine what damages should be sought – and give them a dollar amount.
Damages commonly awarded in a medical malpractice suit due to misdiagnosis can include:
- Past and future medical bills – routine, emergency, physical therapy, or other treatments.
- Compensation for unnecessary treatments.
- Loss of quality of life.
- Psychological counseling.
- Exacerbated illness.
- Additional illness or injury due to receiving the wrong treatment.
- Pain and suffering.
- Loss of consortium/companionship.
- Mental anguish.
- Lost wages.
- Diminished earning power.
- Scarring.
- Permanent disabilities/impairments.
- Wrongful death resulting from misdiagnosis.
Keep in mind that these are just the most common damages sought in a medical malpractice case. Your damages will be broken down in how they relate to you and your case, specifically.
Proving a Misdiagnosis
In order to prove that the doctor was negligent when treating the patient, you have to confirm that another doctor of similar skill would have made a proper diagnosis in a timely manner – if the situation was the same.
You will also need to prove that:
- There was a doctor-patient relationship.
- The care provided by that doctor was substandard.
- The improper care resulted in an injury, worsening condition, or other issues.
- Monetary, emotional, and/or physical damages were inflicted on the patient.
This can be hard to do without an attorney. There are many different angles and strategies that can be used to find success with a medical malpractice case. And having the right experts available that can prove your case is also very important. It is also worth mentioning that the doctor being accused is likely to lawyer up pretty well – after all, his/her livelihood, medical license, and future are all on the line. Going up against a skilled legal defense team without having an attorney yourself could be over before it even begins.
Don’t risk losing your case – hire an attorney. From calculating the damages and the value of the claim to securing the compensation for you that you deserve, an attorney’s role in your medical malpractice case is invaluable.
Can You Sue a Doctor for Misdiagnosis?
So, let’s take it back to the original question – can you sue for a misdiagnosis? Yes – as long as you believe that a medical professional caused the injury – and you can prove it.
Ready to move forward? Don’t take the next step without hiring a lawyer.
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