What is Failure to Diagnose?
Sometimes, a legal malpractice action is less about what a doctor did, and more about what they did not do. One type of legal malpractice action involves claims which arise when a patient either fails to improve or experiences a decline in their condition due to the failure of their doctor to diagnose and treat a medical condition. These claims are commonly referred to as “failure to diagnose” claims, and they often turn on the question of whether a competent doctor would have discovered the illness or would have made a different diagnosis after examining the plaintiff around the same time as the doctor who allegedly failed to diagnose the condition.
If you are wondering what kinds of illnesses sometimes go undiagnosed when a patient seeks medical care, there are many of them. For example, doctors occasionally do not catch a heart attack which is imminent, even when they present in the office with classic heart attack symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath. Also, coronary artery disease, if left undiagnosed and untreated can result in a heart attack. Stroke is another condition in which patients may seek medical care upon experiencing early symptoms. If these symptoms are mistaken for something else, or if they are not recognized as the early signs of a stroke, then the patient may experience a stroke as the result of a failure to diagnose. Cancer, brain aneurysms, glaucoma, and many other conditions have been missed by doctors, only to have patients experience severe illness or death which could possibly have been prevented with a timely diagnosis and treatment.
As you might imagine, patients can be severely damaged and even killed if a doctor fails to diagnose their medical condition and recommend appropriate treatment. If a later diagnosis is obtained, it is possible that the person may still live, but the delay in treatment could cause results that are not as positive as the results which would have been likely with an earlier diagnosis and earlier treatment.
There are things which usually happen during a doctor’s visit which can lead to a diagnosis. One of the most important things that a doctor does while he or she examines you is asking questions. The questions that a doctor asks can help them to think about possible conditions which could be connected to the symptoms that you describe. Diagnostic testing often plays a role in failure to diagnose cases, as ordering the proper tests can ensure that a condition is discovered. Certain symptoms which a patient may be experiencing are likely to cause their doctor to suggest that they undergo specific tests to check the functioning of various parts of the body and check for signs that something is wrong.
A failure to diagnose a health condition can adversely affect your chances of a successful recovery. In some cases, such as those involving patients exhibiting symptoms of heart attack or stroke which go undiagnosed, it can even be fatal. If you or someone that you know has been killed or injured as a result of a failure to diagnose, contact the experienced Memphis Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Bailey & Greer, PLLC, today. Call (888) 470-9143 to schedule a time to discuss your case with us. At Bailey & Greer, PLLC, we are small enough to care, big enough to fight, and experienced enough to win.