Medical Misdiagnosis

Each year in the U.S. preventable wrongful deaths occur due to medical malpractice. Wrongful death is defined as death caused by another persons actions, or negligencefailure to act. Every year over 90,000 wrongful deaths occur due to medical malpractice including misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, substandard care, surgical errors including wrong place and wrong patient surgeries, etc. When an injury or illness is suffered, we turn to doctors and other medical professionals for treatment, care, and for healing. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are only human and make mistakes or deliver care which falls far short of accepted standards within the medical community. As the direct result of a medical professionals actions or misdiagnosis and failure to act, seriously ill or injured patients and their families may face temporary or permanent disabilities, high costs for medical care/hospitalization, lost wages from inability to work, emotional pain and suffering, and in the extreme, wrongful death. Medical malpractice/medical negligence cases may be the result of the following examples of medical malpractice:

Incorrect diagnosis Failure to provide prompt treatment for medical condition or injury Failure to provide proper medical treatment for a specific condition such as breast cancer, for example Negligence on the part of hospital staffimproper/insufficient record keeping, for example Surgical errors including wrong-place and wrong-patient errors as well as leaving surgical materials behind inside the patient Injuries to the newborn during delivery including head/brain injury which could trigger cerebral palsy Failure to meet standards of care in the emergency room including lack of qualified staff and delays in delivery of treatment Prescription/medication delivery errors Improperly performed blood transfusions or intravenous delivery of medications

Mistakes administering anesthesia resulting in too much or too little anesthesia being delivered to the patient Failure to refer patients to specialists when the medical community recognizes such referral as standard procedure Unnecessary, negligent amputation Surgical burns to surrounding organs or tissue Wrongful death

According to the Institute of Medicines findings, up to 3,000 preventable deaths occur in the state of New Jersey alone each year resulting from preventable medical errors such as those listed above including medical misdiagnosis. The costs arising from these preventable medical mistakes amount to up to $867 million every year. Repeat-offender medical professionals who have previously been found guilty of medical malpractice have traditionally been responsible for the majority of medical malpractice judgment payments. Disciplinary actions have been rare for New Jersey doctors according to the National Practitioner Data Bank. Less than 11 percent of doctors in the state who have made malpractice payments have also been disciplined by the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners. Special Edition of The American Journal of Medicine Addresses Medical Misdiagnosis According to The American Journal of Medicine, in a 2008 special edition dedicated to comprehension about and addressing of medical diagnosis errors, the rate of diagnosis error is as high as 15 percent. Two important factors in creating the problem are: overconfidence on the part of the doctor and lack of feedback following diagnosis. Doctors, when asked about the alarmingly high rate of misdiagnosis, find it unbelievable that their own rate of error could be as high as the journal illustrates it is. They tend to acknowledge that mistakes do happen, but they believe they are made by other medical professionals who are not as skilled as they are or not as careful or who do not spend enough time listening to their patients concerns/symptoms. Dr. Eta S. Berner, EdD, whose work was a part of the AJMs special edition, stated that cases doctors perceive as being routine and unchallenging often result in misdiagnoses. When confronted with challenging, difficult medical cases, physicians normally seek the help of others in forming their opinions regarding the cases or they turn to Internet-based medical resources for assistance. Dr. Mark Graber, MD, from the department of medicine at State University of New York at Stoney Brook and Veterans Administration Medical Center in Northport, advises patients to become their own watchdogs. Doctors should always communicate the multiple diagnoses they are considering and not simply inform patients of specific tests to obtain or which medications to take. If more information regarding diagnoses is shared with patients, patients can become able to actively play a role in checking for possible misdiagnoses/errors. Patients should also keep track of their test results and medication lists as well as any other relevant medical information. That makes the patient a watchdog for system-related medical errors as well. Patients need to

follow up. If the doctor tells you that you should feel better in one week, and you do not, call the doctor to let him or her know. It is surprising the number of patients who do not follow up on this. Patients can help by asking questions of their physicians in order to carefully understand the process of making diagnoses. Patients should not be intimidated by their doctors. Two questions that should be asked are:

Is there anything about my symptoms/condition that does not fit into your diagnosis? or Could I have more than a single problem? Lack of treatment being provided for the correct condition. The patients real medical condition remains unknown to the doctor and to the patient and is not being properly addressed/treated. Treatment delivered to the patient for a misdiagnosed condition may lead to increased or unnecessary patient suffering. Your doctor, for example, may misdiagnose you with a cancer you do not have which involves toxic chemotherapy treatments.

Potential Harm Resulting from a Medical Misdiagnosis Includes

Contact an Attorney If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, contact the car accident attorneys of Davis, Saperstein & Salomon, P.C. today. Call us at (800) LAW-2000 or fill out our online contact form. These articles are provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. Professional legal counsel should be sought for specific advice relevant to your circumstances.