Medical Malpractice: Patient Misdiagnosis Pt. 2

When determining negligence related to a medical malpractice case due to misdiagnosis, a patient will need to prove that the doctor was negligent. It is important to note that the law does not hold doctors legally responsible for all diagnostic errors. In a previous article physician negligence was discussed; in this article, diagnostic test errors and instances in which the misdiagnosis result in harm to the patient will be discussed.

Errors in diagnostic testsAt times, a doctor may fail to correctly diagnose a condition due to their reliance on inaccurate results from laboratory tests, radiology films, and other types of tests. This can take place in one of two ways:

?The diagnostic equipment was faulty

?Human error occurred - this can happen for example, when samples are contaminated or mixed up, test results are read incorrectly, or a technician or specialist missed something in an x-ray or pathology slide.

It must be noted that in the above situations, the doctor may not be liable for medical malpractice; however, another person might be. For example, if a technician misses something in a lab sample, the technician that misread the pathology slide might be held responsible. Despite this, the patient still has to prove that the error was as a result of negligence.

The misdiagnosis harmed the patientIt is necessary for the patient to prove that the doctor’s negligent misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis caused the patient’s injury or condition to progress beyond what it would normally have, had the correct diagnosis been made in time. Further, the patient must prove that this progression had a negative impact on treatment. To illustrate, if a patient has to undergo a severe treatment regimen as a result of a delayed cancer diagnosis or the patient dies because the cancer has metastasized and no longer responds to treatment. In some cases, the patient can show harm even if the condition can still be treated; for example, a delay in treatment of some cancers increases the risk of recurrence.

In the rare case whereby a doctor diagnoses a patient with a condition or illness that the patient does not have, the patient may also be able to prove harm in the form of anxiety, stress, medical problems, and expenses incurred as a result of the unnecessary treatment.

There are a number of ways that physicians and other medical professionals can make diagnostic mistakes. Some of these are:

?Wrong diagnosis - where a doctor picks the wrong illness. For example, a doctor diagnoses cancer when the patient is cancer free?Missed diagnosis - where the doctor gives the patient a clean bill of health when the patient has an illness or disease?Delayed diagnosis - where the doctor eventually makes the correct diagnosis but after significant delay. It is one of the more common types of diagnostic error?Failure to recognize complications - where the doctor makes the right diagnosis but fails to identify complications or factors which change or aggravate the illness?Failure to diagnose a related disease?Failure to diagnose an unrelated disease

Medical malpractice cases are highly regulated by complex rules; therefore, it is important to talk to experienced medical malpractice attorneys in your search to find the best Anchorage Alaska attorneys for medical malpractice.

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