Medical malpractice lawsuits occur when a patient is harmed in some way (by actions, acts of omission, neglect or incompetent) of a medical professional responsible for their care. One area of medical malpractice people don't always understand clearly is misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis.
For instance, every patient that has received a misdiagnosis of a prevailing medical condition or a delay in the correct diagnosis is not necessarily entitled to medical malpractice damages.
In fact, it is not uncommon for competent doctors to misdiagnosis their patient's conditions or delay in the diagnosis of their patients. The fact is these kinds of errors occur in hospital emergency rooms with some real measure frequency. To bring a medical malpractice claim against a medical professional or institution, certain factor must be proven.
First, you must demonstrate that you were under that doctor's care at the time of the diagnosis. You must also prove that a competent doctor under the same circumstances would have made a correct diagnosis, that the physician was incompetent or negligent in their diagnosis, and that the misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis resulted in further harm, or pain and suffering, than you would have otherwise had to experience but for the mistaken diagnosis.
For instance, if a patient was treated by a doctor for chest pain and initial tests showed considerable blockage but the physician neglected to realize the condition and treated the patient for indigestion, and the delay in diagnosis (and therefore treatment) led to a heart attack, the patient likely has a case for medical malpractice.
Patients can also bring a claim against medical technicians if their own negligence or incompetence led to erroneous test results being provided. In the case above, if tests did not in fact reveal a blockage because a technician mixed lab results, for instance, any competent doctor could have made the same call based on the erroneous results.
That is why it's ever so important that anyone that feels they suffered harm due to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis consult with a competent personal injury lawyer like the attorneys at Panio Law Offices.
Our attorneys understand the burden of proof in these cases and work with experiences medical professionals that can carefully scrutinize the elements of your case and help to determine (1) if there was indeed negligence; and (2) if that negligence led to a worsening of your condition, which in turn caused further harm to yourself.
If you have any questions about filing a medical malpractice claim, call (708) 928-8680, we can help.