The primary care physician in charge of coordinating your medical care is critical to your health and longevity. They are responsible for managing your care and for helping you determine what afflictions may have caused your symptoms.
Only once they properly diagnose you can they then recommend a course of treatment that will help you manage the condition. Unfortunately, many doctors fail in their basic obligation to patients when it comes time to properly diagnose them.
Failing to diagnose a patient or diagnosing them improperly can have catastrophic health consequences. How common is this form of medical malpractice?
A noteworthy number of Americans don’t get a proper diagnosis
Research into the American health care system has made it clear that there are many significant shortcomings. One of the most concerning is the number of misdiagnosis and wrong diagnoses that take place in hospitals and doctors’ offices across the country every year.
Research shows that an estimated 12 million Americans annually suffer the consequences of a doctor diagnosing them with the wrong condition or failing to diagnose their condition at all. Many times, a mistake in diagnosis will mean a worse prognosis for the patients because they don’t get the care they need.
In some cases, if they receive the wrong diagnosis, receiving treatment that they don’t need can have negative health consequences.
Victims of misdiagnosis can pursue medical malpractice claims
If your doctor doesn’t diagnose you despite you providing them with adequate information about your condition or if they jump to conclusions and diagnose you with the wrong condition, you could lose quite a bit of money because of their mistake, to say nothing of your pain and suffering. In order to seek compensation for your damages, including lost wages, consider speaking with an experienced medical malpractice attorney.