What if you were told you had a devastating illness that could only end in death?
That was the reality for dozens of patients in Ohio who were told that they were suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Over fifty patients of a “memory loss center” whose director lacked either a license in either medicine or psychology spent agonizing months believing that they would soon succumb to the debilitating effects of dementia and then die.
Faced with what they believed was certain death, some left for what they believed would be a final vacation, others quit their jobs and gave away their important personal items. Some of them made plans to kill themselves when the dementia reached a certain stage and at least one man — unable to face the sentence he believed he’d been given — actually did kill himself.
The woman behind all the misery did have a doctorate degree in physiological science, which is a study of how the body functions together as a whole — but far from an actual medical degree. How she got the Toledo Clinic to lend her legitimacy as one of its many specialty centers is anyone’s guess. While her clinic closed after barely a year, the devastation to its patients is hardly over, emotionally or physically.
Most victims of a misdiagnosis are misled into believing that their symptoms are nothing to worry about or treated for some lesser condition while something critical is overlooked.
For example, a woman may be told that the cyst in her breast is benign when it is actually cancer. A patient with chronic headaches and a slight tremor may be told that he or she is suffering symptoms of stress when there is actually a tumor growing in his or her brain.
They consequently miss out on any last chance to save themselves or prolong the productive parts of their lives.
In cases like this, however, where patients are told the worst, they become victims of a form of medical abuse — their diagnosis simply feeds the ego and pocketbook of the person who is supposed to be giving them medical care.
If you’ve been the victim of a misdiagnosis by an under-qualified or unqualified practitioner, talk to an attorney today. To learn more about how our law firm handles these cases, please visit our page.