Doctors can prescribe medications or perform procedures on patients to address their medical issues. In order to provide the right support to a patient, they need to first diagnose their underlying medical condition that causes the symptoms.
A variety of different maladies can present relatively similar symptoms, at least initially. Doctors use the knowledge they have acquired through in-depth education and access to specialized facilities to diagnose their patients. In some cases, doctors don’t diagnose a patient or reach the wrong diagnostic conclusion.
People may not receive the treatment they need to heal, or they may undergo completely unnecessary therapies. Diagnostic errors are a common form of medical malpractice and one of the leading ways that malpractice causes premature mortality.
Autopsy data has uncovered an alarming trend
Identifying trends in diagnostic errors can be very difficult. After all, physicians may not even realize that they made a mistake, and their patients may not either. Even when a medical professional realizes they diagnosed someone improperly or failed to diagnose a concerning medical condition, they may not be forthcoming with that information to the patient or their employer.
Frequently, the truth behind a poor medical outcome only comes to light after a patient actually dies. According to a review of autopsy results, between 10 and 20%of post-mortem medical reviews uncover undiagnosed or misdiagnosed medical conditions. A forensic specialist might discover that a patient had cancer that a doctor never diagnosed.
Experts estimate that between 40,000 and 80,000 people every year die due to diagnostic mistakes made by the professionals providing their health care. In such scenarios, grieving family members may have grounds to take legal action.
Wrongful death lawsuits brought on the basis of medical malpractice can lead to financial compensation. They can also give families closure by affirming that health care professionals are the underlying reason that their family member died.
Reviewing autopsy results and medical records can help families identify cases where wrongful deaths might have been caused – at least, in part – by diagnostic mistakes. Those who recognize the different types of medical malpractice are often able to more effectively hold health care professionals and facilities accountable for failing to provide crucial, basic services.