It is possible to sue a doctor for wrongly diagnosing a patient
When a doctor misdiagnoses your disease or injuries, you can have legal recourse. “Misdiagnosis” is part of the legal profession known as medical malpractice, and this is what happened here.
Personal injury law serves as a catch-all term for this practice area. Unlike criminal cases, personal injury cases are not criminal in nature. However, criminal charges may be brought in circumstances of intentional misdiagnosis or death.
Misdiagnosis: What Is It?
An incorrect diagnosis of an accident or illness is the result of an incorrect guess or misinterpretation of a medical test. If they make the wrong diagnosis, it could lead to:
- Intensify your current medical condition (for example, not treating you correctly, and then you have a heart attack)
- If a patient’s symptoms resemble kidney stones, you can delay making the correct diagnosis. Appendicitis is diagnosed a few hours later, and therapy is changed)
- Become worse for you or perhaps kill you (called “wrongful death” in legal cases)
- Even if your doctor fails to provide you with a diagnosis, you may still be a victim of misdiagnosis. However, in some cases, a hospital or pharmacy may be responsible.
When interacting with a medical expert, you have the right to demand a certain level of “medical standard of care.” The doctor’s failure to aid you may constitute medical malpractice.
In order to sue a doctor for mistaken diagnosis, you must have suffered harm — or lost a loved one — as a result of the misdiagnosis.
Most Frequently Missed Signs and Symptoms
Doctors have a relatively decent success rate of 95 percent, even with one out of every twenty patients being misdiagnosed. An incorrect diagnosis, on the other hand, can leave a patient with an untreated condition or subject them to painful therapies they don’t need. Here are some disorders that are frequently misdiagnosed:
- Recurring bronchitis was mistaken for asthma.
- Angina or a panic attack can be mistaken for a heart attack.
- Misdiagnosis of Lyme disease as the illness, depression, or mononucleosis is not uncommon.
- Diagnosed incorrectly as Alzheimer’s, stroke, or stress — Parkinson’s
- Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and even rheumatoid arthritis have been misdiagnosed as lupus.
When I Visit the Doctor, What Happens if I Become Worse?
If you’re experiencing a life-threatening situation, you should seek immediate medical attention. Your health comes first, and your lawyer will guide you through the legal process. “Duty” should be explained to you in terms of what you must do:
- Don’t disregard medical advice unless it’s making you worse or you aren’t getting better.
- When you’re in need of further assistance, don’t delay.
- The goal is not to wait until things get even worse before doing something about it
- The doctor told you to, so don’t sit around and wait.
“Mitigating damages” is the term for this. Both the patient and the practitioner might be scrutinized in medical malpractice proceedings. The insurance company will want to make sure that you aren’t intentionally worsening your condition for financial gain. There is no time to waste if you require a different kind of treatment.
It’s possible to sue doctors for your original injuries or illnesses, but new injuries that may have occurred while you waited may not be included in the lawsuit. You’d have to pay for any new injuries you sustained.
As soon as possible, you need have an attorney like Norris Injury Lawyers Jasper AL on your side to ensure that your case is as strong as possible.