Medical Misdiagnosis Lawyers
Medical misdiagnosis occurs when symptoms of a serious medical condition are attributed to a less serious medical condition. As a result, the more serious condition is missed and not diagnosed. Medical misdiagnosis leads to erroneous or inappropriate treatment, delayed treatment or no treatment at all being provided to the patient.
Missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis often lead to the patient achieving a worse outcome, compared to the outcome if a correct diagnosis been made and prompt treatment initiated. As a result of misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis, patients are often required to undergo more extensive treatment, suffer greater amount of physical damage and psychological impact. In some instances, it results in death.
Sometimes, even very basic problems and conditions are missed because doctors and other medical professionals place excessive reliance on certain tests and investigations and follow a rigid protocol which goes against an accurate diagnosis considering the patient’s symptoms. Often, they become so fixated on the process that they miss the substance of what they are looking at.
Our team of specialist medical negligence lawyers are experienced in acting for patients and their families in medical misdiagnosis claims all around Australia. We understand the devastating effects of having suffered an injury or a worsened medical condition, or experienced the loss of a loved one, because of missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis.
We’ll be here for you every step of the way guiding you through the process in your medical negligence claim. We have the expert knowledge, expertise and a proven track record needed to obtain outstanding results in all types of medical negligence compensation claims involving medical misdiagnosis.
We’ll act for you in your medical misdiagnosis claim on a no win, no fee basis with no upfront costs. See our why choose us page for many more reasons as to why so many Australians choose Longton Compensation Lawyers over anyone else for their medical negligence medical misdiagnosis compensation claims.
What causes a medical condition to be misdiagnosed?
Missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis often occur because of the following factors:
- Fragmentation of medical care, where instead of going to one doctor for all healthcare needs, the patient ends up seeing different doctors for various medical issues and treatment. As a result, no single medical professional has the whole picture of the patient’s health, creating many opportunities for significant symptoms or test results to be missed or misread, and for diagnostic errors to occur.
- Not listening to the patient or not obtaining a proper medical history from the patient.
- Placing excessive reliance on certain tests and investigations and following a rigid protocol, which goes against an accurate diagnosis considering the patient’s symptoms.
- Doctor inexperience or overconfidence leading to the doctor not considering changes in patient’s symptoms or possible problems with their original diagnoses.
- Failing to recognise that a patient needs to be referred to a specialist for tests or treatment. This can cause significant delays in the patient receiving the treatment they need.
- Not ordering or performing necessary diagnostic testing, such as blood tests or radiological investigations, including CT and MRI scans.
- Misinterpreting test results or not acting on test results in a timely manner to provide the correct treatment for the patient’s condition.
- Failing to follow up referrals to ensure timely diagnosis.
- Failing to discuss with patients how to treat and manage their medical conditions whilst awaiting any specialist appointments.
- Not monitoring or monitoring the patient inadequately after surgery or admission or not acting on signs of deterioration.
- Not being familiar with the error rates of diagnostic tools, such as blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds and mammograms, and placing too much reliance on these investigations by overlooking obvious clinical signs of a patient’s medical condition.
What are the consequences of medical misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis of a medical condition?
Medical misdiagnosis or a delayed diagnosis of a medical condition can have catastrophic consequences for patients. The difference may be a full recovery and permanent harm or death. The major and most common consequences of misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis include:
- Metastasis or progression of cancer.
- Having to undergo a more extensive or severe treatment because of the delay and progression of a medical condition or illness.
- Increased risk of recurrence of condition that was misdiagnosed or delayed, such as cancer.
- Greater destruction of bone, muscle and organ tissue, particularly in cases of infection.
- Progression of medical condition or illness, such as infection.
- Non-union or mal-alignment or mal-union of fractures and development of additional medical conditions, such as avascular necrosis.
- Fatigue and reduced stamina due to increased heart damage in misdiagnosed heart attack cases.
- More severe symptoms in delayed diagnosis and treatment of strokes.
- Greater severity of brain damage in cases of meningitis and encephalitis.
- Paraplegia or quadriplegia in cases of spinal infections (osteomyelitis) or spinal injuries.
- Death.
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