Whether you know or don’t know how serious your condition is, you are at a doctor looking for answers. Unfortunately, you might just fall into the roughly 20% of patients that have a serious condition and will be misdiagnosed.

The Washington Post reports on that figure and more, “In 2015, the National Academy of Medicine reported that most people will receive an incorrect or late diagnosis at least once in their lives, sometimes with serious consequences. According to previous research cited in the study, diagnostic errors contribute to approximately ten percent of patient deaths and account for six to seventeen percent of adverse events in hospitals.” Now that is not to say that all these errors are necessarily mistakes. As the Post also notes, “Diagnosis is extremely hard. There are 10,000 diseases and only 200 to 300 symptoms.”

Second opinions, full and continued disclosure of your symptoms and comprehensive testing are all ways to help limit the possibility of a misdiagnosis and ultimately get you the treatment you deserve.

But what happens when the error resulted in injury and death and should have been discovered by the doctor…can you sue for malpractice or wrongful death? The answer to that depends on the particulars of your case but with the right evidence you just might have a case worth pursuing. Dealing with any type of sickness or illness is not only physically and emotionally taxing but it can be extremely expensive as well– an expense you should not have to pay for if it was an obvious mistake on the part of your doctor. Here’s a look at some of the factors that go into this important decision to file a medical misdiagnosis lawsuit:

• Your Diagnosis: How obvious was it to find your actual medical issue? If you had a super rare disease that matched up to many of the symptoms of what you were wrongly diagnosed with, it is a hard case to find expert medical testimony to prove that your doctor failed to meet his standard of case. If on the other hand you had a staph infection that was diagnosed as a common cold you have a much stronger case.
• Your Injuries: In order to bring a medical misdiagnosis lawsuit, you not only have to be misdiagnosed but also have injuries to show as a result of that misdiagnosis. For instance, you were given the wrong medication that cause other issues. Or, conversely, you were not given the right medication which made your medical condition worse. There are a lot of cases in which the doctor was wrong in his or her diagnosis but there was not really any additional injuries to show for it.

If you think you might have a case for injuries or death as a result of a medical misdiagnosis, let’s talk. We have over 40 years of experience helping individuals and families in your very situation. Medical malpractice cases are always complicated but we work with some of the best experts in the business to ensure that we are presenting your strongest case possible. Your consultation and every conversation with us is always free and we are available 24/7 so do not hesitate to get in touch with us today.