Many people who have sought help from a doctor have been troubled that they do not get the diagnosis they were hoping for. Perhaps you received bad news or perhaps you have gone to see many medical professionals who cannot quite pinpoint what your health issue is. However, if a doctor provides you with a diagnosis that is incorrect and begins treating you for that specific diagnosis, it could lead to more health issues if you are on the wrong medication or not getting treated for the correct ailment. When this is the case, you may have grounds for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
What can go wrong?
Misdiagnosis is not necessarily uncommon and it does not always mean that medical malpractice occurred. That said, when a doctor has the information to make the correct diagnosis and does not, your health may worsen if you are on the wrong treatment plan or do not get the treatment you need at all. Having a lawyer, like a medical malpractice lawyer from a law firm like Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols can help when you are trying to distinguish between medical malpractice and a reasonable error. Your lawyer would work to prove:
- You had a doctor-patient relationship with the doctor in question
- The doctor performed a negligent or reckless act
- This act directly caused you to become injured or made your illness worse
When attempting to prove that your doctor committed medical malpractice, you will be working to show that another doctor within the same or similar specialty and under similar circumstances would not have made this error. Additionally, you will need to show that there was a true illness or injury that stemmed from this diagnosis. If you are not worse after the misdiagnosis, then there are no damages to win. However, if a doctor did not catch an infection and the delay in catching the infection meant you had to have a limb cut off, then there is a clear injury after their error in diagnosis.
Any delays in treatment can lead a patient to become worse when they are suffering from an illness or injury and it is important that when this happens, you hold the medical professional responsible. If you are the victim of medical malpractice, do not wait any longer to get the compensation you deserve. Reach out to a trusted lawyer near you today to learn what steps you can take.
