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Many serious medical conditions share some of the same symptoms as less serious conditions – this can lead to misdiagnosis. Doctors are trained to use a technique called Differential Diagnosis, and systematically test for (and eliminate) the most serious conditions first. If done properly, the Differential Diagnosis technique ensures that a serious condition won’t be missed because it shares symptoms with a mild condition and the doctor assumes that the patient probably has the more common, mild condition. However, if a physician does not perform a Differential Diagnosis, the odds of missing a serious condition dramatically increase.
There are also many conditions that require a specialist for diagnosis. Doctors who do not refer patients out to specialists on certain types of conditions take an unnecessary risk of misdiagnosis, with potentially devastating consequences for their patients.
The most common misdiagnosed diseases and medical conditions are:
Failure to properly and timely diagnose stroke can result in permanent brain damage or even death for the patient.
Some of the most common types of medical misdiagnosis are:
Medical labs that process hundreds of samples on a daily basis make mistakes, like:
In a mismanaged lab test situation, you could be diagnosed with a condition that you don’t have, and worse, the health issues that you actually do have might not be properly identified and disclosed to you, so that you can get the right treatment.
Primary doctors and specialists review many diagnostic tests, including CT-scans, MRIs, X-rays, blood tests, and PET scans. Their failure to correctly read and interpret test results can have catastrophic consequences for patients, including cancer, heart attacks, and blood clots.
Medical malpractice can occur when physicians fail to:
This generally occurs when doctors fail to perform a differential diagnosis by eliminating the most serious possible conditions first, and then proceeding to more common (and mild) conditions. For example, a patient who complains about a persistent cough and coughing up blood should always be tested for lung cancer. Likewise, a patient complaining of sharp chest pain must be tested for a heart attack, even if the physician suspects that the patient is more likely suffering from indigestion.
You need to get your medical records if you think you’ve got a potential malpractice issue. We can help you get those records and, more important, we can review those records with medical experts to help get you answers on whether you or a loved one was the victim of medical malpractice based on a missed or delayed diagnosis.
Here are some of the things that we look for in reviewing medical records for evidence of a missed or delayed diagnosis:
Call our Minneapolis Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis Lawyer today at 612.349.2729, or fill out the form below. You need help from someone who knows what they are doing, to:
a) get all of your medical records;
b) get them to an expert for evaluation;
c) do a legal analysis of your case; and
d) get your case served within the statute of limitations, along with the Certificate of Expert Review.