Failure-to-Diagnose-ImageEvery day in the United States numerous people are injured or killed as the result of a medical error. Many of those victims are the result of a failure to properly diagnose a medical problem, condition or illness.

When you go to a medical professional for care, you count on them to examine you, question you, run all necessary tests and ultimately provide an accurate diagnosis of any illness, injury or condition you have.

When a health care professional fails to provide an accurate diagnosis or fails to diagnose an illness, injury or condition that should have been diagnosed and an adverse outcome results, that could form the basis for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Some of the more common illnesses, injuries and conditions that doctors fail to diagnose or misdiagnose include:

  • Cancer
  • Strokes
  • Heart attacks and other serious coronary conditions
  • Blood clots
  • Meningitis
  • Pulmonary embolisms
  • Brain tumors
  • Allergic reactions
  • Internal bleeding
  • Diabetic reactions
  • Broken bones
  • Lyme disease
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Parasites.

What Causes Diagnosis Errors?

There are an endless number of scenarios that could lead to a failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis.

Some of the more common reasons why a doctor may fail to properly diagnose a patient include:

  • Improper physical examination of the patient
  • Failure to order appropriate tests
  • Misinterpreting test results
  • Failure to follow-up with the patient
  • Failure to perform regular screenings
  • Not listening to or acting on a patient’s complaints
  • Diagnosing a tumor as benign
  • Failing to refer a patient to a specialist or delaying a referral.

What Compensation Is Available in a Failure-to-Diagnose Case?

When someone is injured because of a physician’s failure to properly diagnose an illness, injury or condition, the patient often suffers physically, emotionally and financially. Frequently, the victim incurs additional expenses related to medical treatment needed to correct the problem, which is often made worse by the missed diagnosis.

These expenses could have been avoided had the physician properly diagnosed the patient in the beginning. Victims of a missed diagnosis or a misdiagnosis could be entitled to economic compensation that will cover the cost of the necessary corrective treatment, as well as things like lost earnings that are the result of the injury.

Victims could also be entitled to non-economic damages that are intended to compensate them for the pain and suffering caused by the diagnosis error. Surviving family members of a victim who died as a result of a diagnosis error could be entitled to similar compensation for the loss they have suffered.

If you believe that a Texas medical professional’s failure to make a proper diagnosis caused you to suffer injuries or caused the loss of a loved one, contact The Law Office of Kevin Krist now for a confidential claim evaluation and consultation at no cost to you.

You can reach us by calling 281-677-3962 or by using our online contact form. Based in Houston, The Law Office of Kevin Krist handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you owe no attorney’s fees unless we are successful in recovering compensation for you on your claim.