Accurate diagnosis is the foundation of successful medical treatment. People need to know the cause of their symptoms to evaluate treatment options and take control of their health. Otherwise, the best they can hope for is symptom management.
The diagnostic process is a big part of the service provided by a physician. They conduct tests and ask questions to determine what may have caused a patient’s symptoms. Unfortunately, diagnostic errors are relatively common. Doctors sometimes reach the wrong diagnostic conclusion or completely fail to diagnose their patients.
When misdiagnosis or no diagnosis occurs, patients may receive the wrong treatment or may go for a long period of time without the care they require. Doctors can make mistakes while diagnosing anyone. However, certain groups of people are at elevated risk of receiving diagnostic mistakes. Who may need to be particularly cautious when seeking medical care and communicating with doctors?
Female patients
Many medical conditions present different symptoms in women as compared to men. Strokes and heart attacks, for example, can look very different in cases with female patients versus male patients. Much medical research uses the male body as the standard, which means that medical education does as well.
Female patients are at elevated risk of doctors overlooking major medical issues. They are also vulnerable to diagnostic errors caused by bias. Doctors may be more inclined to ignore or downplay self-reported symptoms when they come from female patients.
Patients with darker complexions
Racial bias is another serious concern in many areas of medicine. Some physicians inaccurately believe that skin color correlates to pain sensitivity. Others may allow deep-set racial biases to influence how much weight they give a patient’s self-reported symptoms.
Combine that with the possibility of communication challenges caused by language barriers or the heavy use of slang, and patients from different cultures are often at a disadvantage in a medical setting. Certain other patients, including people of advanced age, those with substance abuse disorders and those without health insurance, may also have an increased risk of diagnostic issues.
Holding doctors or their employers accountable for diagnostic mistakes can help people cover care costs. Medical malpractice lawsuits may also lead to improved patient care standards at a facility. Recognizing that bias may have influenced a diagnostic failure may inspire people to speak up about their doctors’ errors.