If you are experiencing unusual symptoms and you make an appointment to see your primary care doctor, you hope not to have your ailments dismissed. Alternatively, if you visit the emergency room, you hope that the physician will examine you completely and listen to your concerns.
Sadly, there are over 7 million misdiagnoses that occur in emergency departments each year, with 12 million misdiagnoses occurring in outpatient settings. When time matters the most, these incorrect diagnoses can mean the difference between life and death.
If a physician has misdiagnosed your condition and you have suffered health complications as a result, you may be eligible to recover compensation for your losses.
Our Harrisburg medical malpractice lawyers can help you in filing your claim.
Conditions that are Often Misdiagnosed by Doctors
The ten conditions that doctors often fail to diagnose or are diagnosed late include:
- Colorectal cancer
- Lung cancer
- Breast cancer
- Heart attack
- Prostate Cancer
- Stroke
- Sepsis
- Bladder cancer
- Pulmonary embolism
- Brain hemorrhage
Why Do Misdiagnoses Occur?
A diagnostic error may be the result of any of the following:
- The doctor fails to get an accurate or complete patient history
- There is no follow-up with the patient
- The doctor misses symptoms
- Patient presenting with symptoms that are not characteristic of the disease or illness
- Patient’s symptoms get attributed to the wrong conditions
- Miscommunication between the doctor and the patient
- The physician orders the wrong medical test
- A medical test being read incorrectly
While your treating physician may have made an error in diagnosing your condition, if a radiologist misinterprets an X-ray or other medical imaging, he or she can and should be held partly responsible for an incorrect diagnosis.
Dedication to Helping Individuals Heal
Although a failure to diagnose a condition is not always life-threatening, tens of thousands of patients suffer complications from misdiagnoses each year. Although a misdiagnosis does not always point to physician negligence, there are times when doctors do not carry out their due diligence in correctly diagnosing patients. If you suffered harm due to a physician’s mistake and you sustained losses, you may have a medical malpractice claim.
At Marzella & Associates, we expect physicians to treat each patient with the utmost care. If you were examined by a physician and your complaints were not taken seriously, then you deserve retribution for your losses.
Nobody can heal following a doctor’s misstep without adequate financial resources. Recovering damages for lost income, surgeries, and home modifications can free up funds for your future medical needs. When you work with our legal team, you can rest assured that we will do everything possible to seek justice on your behalf.
Speak with a Harrisburg Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today
If a physician has failed to diagnose your medical condition accurately, our Harrisburg medical malpractice lawyers want to hear from you. If you want to learn how much your medical malpractice case may be worth, contact us online or by phone. We offer free, no-obligation consultations to prospective clients.