Brooklyn Failure to Diagnose Lawyer

Understanding Failure to Diagnose

 There are many types of medical malpractice claims, but failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis is the most common. Estimates are that between 1/3 and 40% of all medical malpractice cases involve either a situation where a patient’s illness was not diagnosed at all or where an illness was misdiagnosed as another, usually less serious, condition. While some of the conditions that medical professionals fail to diagnose might be relatively harmless, serious and even life-threatening illnesses can be overlooked by a careless or negligent health care provider.

Advances in detection and treatment have brought the practice of modern medicine to the point where diseases which were once considered untreatable and assumed to be inevitably fatal can now sometimes be treated successfully. The key, however, is that these conditions must be discovered early and tackled aggressively. When this isn’t done the conditions can still prove to be fatal or, when survivable, will require riskier and more expensive treatments with greater chances for complications. No one ever wants to suffer simply because action wasn’t taken soon enough. If you or a family member has suffered because of a failure to diagnose, it’s important to find a qualified Brooklyn attorney who understands this field.

Almost any medical condition can be missed when a physician or other health professional is not properly attentive to a patient during an examination. Some conditions which providers most commonly fail to diagnose include cancer, allergic reactions, diabetic complications, meningitis, heart attack, stroke, hypertension, appendicitis, Lyme disease, and periodontal disease. Most of these conditions are serious by themselves and a failed or late diagnosis can have life-threatening results. Even conditions which are not life-threatening can produce pain, further injury, and serious additional complications when they are not diagnosed promptly.

Health care providers can be held accountable for failure to diagnose for many reasons:

–   Inadequate or improper physical examination

–   Failure to attend to and act appropriately on patient complaints

–   Failure to recognize potential indications of a problem

–   Failure to perform regular screenings, especially in high risk patients

–   Failure to order appropriate tests when indicated

–   Misinterpretation of test results

–   Misdiagnosis of a tumor as benign

–   Delayed referral of a patient to a specialist

–   Failure to provide adequate follow up care, including ordering follow-up tests

–   Failure to properly read x-rays and mammograms

A Brooklyn Misdiagnosis Lawyer Who Appreciates Your Situation

As the leading reason for medical malpractice claims, failure to diagnose is a serious problem. If your family has been burdened with difficulties which never should have happened because of a health care provider’s negligence, it’s important to do what you can to ease the strain. Kuharski, Levitz, & Giovinazzo are ready to assist you today.

See Also: Legal Assistance for ER Negligence Claims, Click here.