Doctors offer certain resources and information that the average person can’t access on their own. They can recommend medications or refer someone to a specialist. The very first service that a doctor may provide for a patient is often diagnosis.
They determine what causes someone’s symptoms so that they can recommend appropriate interventions. An accurate diagnosis is necessary for someone to receive the right treatment. Unfortunately, doctors sometimes rush through the diagnostic process and jump to inaccurate conclusions.
Patients often put complete trust in their doctors, only to learn later that they did not receive appropriate care and consideration. Diagnostic errors may involve a physician diagnosing someone with the wrong condition. Failing to diagnose a patient is also a common diagnostic error. Researchers estimate that millions of people every year in the United States suffer negative medical consequences because of diagnostic errors.
How common are mistakes during diagnosis?
It can be very difficult to accurately estimate the number of diagnostic errors that occur annually. After all, doctors may not catch their own mistakes. Research into diagnostic errors looks at the admitted mistakes, reports of patients who received an accurate diagnosis in subsequent medical appointments and autopsy results.
According to an analysis of post-mortem examinations, a shocking number of people do not receive the right diagnosis. Between 10 and 20% of all autopsies in the United States turn up evidence of diagnostic mistakes on the part of a physician. That translates to between 40,000 and 80,000 deaths annually. Millions of other patients may have serious but non-deadly consequences because of a physician’s diagnostic errors.
Negligence is a form of malpractice
Failing to follow proper medical procedures, such as skipping elements of the diagnostic process, may constitute professional negligence. Patients struggling with a poor prognosis because of a delayed diagnosis may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Those who lost a family member to a diagnostic mistake might also be in a position to take legal action against a specific professional or the medical facility where they work.
Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit can potentially help cover medical expenses, lost wages and other harm connected to a diagnostic error. When doctors fail in a basic element of their job, affected patients may have the right to take legal action.