Failure to Diagnose or Improper Diagnosis:

Although doctors are trained to recognize symptoms and make a diagnosis, mistakes can happen. Failure to properly diagnose, delay in a diagnosis or an incorrect diagnosis can have traumatic consequences. More serious consequences result when the diagnosis occurs too late because the disease or condition may no longer be treatable. Any sort of delay in treatment can lead to irreversible health effects. Common causes of failure or delay in diagnosis are:

• Emergency Room (ER) Misdiagnosis
• Results of tests not reported
• Tests not performed
• X-rays or mammograms read incorrectly
• Lab results read incorrectly
• Symptoms identified by doctor but never referred to specialist

For life threatening diseases, early detection and diagnosis is essential. If discovered at an early stage, many diseases can be cured or successfully treated. Unfortunately, there are many severe diseases that often go undiagnosed, such as:

• Heart attack and Stroke
• Appendicitis
• Diabetes
• Bacterial meningitis 
• Cancer (breast cancer, melanoma, lung cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer)

A failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis of a severe condition is more common than one might think. In fact, roughly 40% of medical malpractice claims are a result of failures to diagnose a condition. Additionally, a study, published in the online journal Cancer, reported that doctors misdiagnose approximately 12 percent of cancer cases. According to the numbers reported in the study, because there were about 1.5 million new cases of cancer diagnosed last year, approximately 180,000 patients were misdiagnosed. Given this information, it is obvious that seeking a second medical opinion is a wise option patients should take advantage of.

If you or a loved one suffered from a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose, you may be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering. If you believe you have such a claim, please contact us for a free consultation by filling out this CONTACT FORM or calling us toll free at 1-800-992-6878.