Can I Sue a Doctor for Medical Misdiagnosis?

Roughly 20% of serious medical conditions are misdiagnosed. A misdiagnosis occurs when a patient is said to have a condition other than what they have. It may also occur when a patient is told they have no medical conditions when they, in fact, do.

The question is, can these patients can file a claim against the doctor who misdiagnosed them?

The answer depends on the nature of the medical misdiagnosis. Speaking with a malpractice lawyer will help you determine whether or not you can sue.

In the meantime, read on to find out more about what constitutes a medical misdiagnosis lawsuit.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

In the state of Tennessee, medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider breaches or violates the standard of care required during treatment. The standard of care is defined by the practices and procedures conducted by medical practitioners in your geographic area. It varies based upon the urgency of the condition.

As vague as this may sound, it’s worth noting that Tennessee claimants were awarded a total of over $66 million in 2016. This doesn’t include the claims that were still pending when the calendar year ended. In other words, medical malpractice can and often is proven.

It may be easier to understand if we look at a specific type of medical malpractice. Medical misdiagnoses can fall under the category of malpractice.

When Is a Medical Misdiagnosis Considered Malpractice?

As we mentioned earlier, medical misdiagnoses are not always suable offenses. It is possible for a medical misdiagnosis to be considered an honest or unharmful mistake. Read on to find out what Tennessee judges look for in a medical misdiagnosis case.

Patient-Doctor Relationship

A patient-doctor relationship exists when a medical professional is involved in your care and treatment. If they misdiagnose you during that time, they failed to provide appropriate care to you and they are a medical provider you can sue if you persue a medical malpractice claim for the harm you suffered due to their negligence. This seems clear cut, right?

The problem is when multiple medical professionals are involved in your diagnosis, and sometimes the names of people who were involved in the decision-making are not included in your records. Alternatively, the question of the medical professional’s obligation to meet the standard of care is raised if they offered an informal opinion at the request of your doctor but were not formally asked to become involved. In either of these cases, the court often relies on a jury to decide who is at fault if someone clearly dropped the ball and your outome was worse because of it.

Negligence

A misdiagnosis is not, in and of itself, evidence of negligence. How do you know if a doctor acted negligently? You will have to examine both what they did and did not do in reaching their diagnosis.

When doctors are determining a patient’s diagnosis, they should perform what is called a differential diagnosis. This involves creating a comprehensive list of possible diagnoses under the known medical facts, beginning with the one the doctor believes most probable. Through medical observation and a series of tests, doctors narrow down the list to one final conclusion – including by ruling out things on the initial list.

There are two ways that a doctor can act negligently during this process. The first is failing to include the proper diagnosis on the original list when other doctors would have known to do so. The second is including the proper diagnosis on the list but ruling it out based on faulty diagnostic techniques. Both types of mistakes can occur due to physicians not taking the time necessary to make a resonable decision, or not being given enough information by nurses or other doctors who knew of that information.

Resulting Harm

Even if a doctor or medical professional acted negligently, you will not have a medical malpractice case unless the misdiagnosis caused you harm.

In some instances, it is the treatment prescribed that could cause harm. For example, some medications come with serious side effects that are only worth enduring if you have the disorder it is designed to treat.

In other instances, the misdiagnosis could delay a proper diagnosis and therefore proper treatment is not provided in the window of time when it would have helped you. For example, if cancer is misdiagnosed, a delay in proper treatment could lessen your chances of recovery beacuse the cancer was given months and years to spread beacuse it went undiagnosed and therefore untreated.

In other words, the misdiagnosis caused your conditions to worsen or it led to undue medical bills. In many cases, both of these issues are present.

Statute of Limitations

It is important to note that there is a statute of limitations on medical malpractice cases. In Tennessee, you have one year to file your claim against the medical professional in question.

This year does not necessarily begin from the point of misdiagnosis. Instead, it may begin from the point at which the harm caused by your misdiagnosis is discovered. However, regardless of when you discover the facts about what happened, the typical outer limit on when you can file a lawsuit is three years from the time of the mistake. This three year period is called the Statute of Repose.

What About Faulty Technology?

There are often times when a misdiagnosis occurs because of faulty technology. Labwork may come back wrong or a machine may malfunction. In this case, who is at fault?

One question your attorney will ask is whether or not human error came into play with regard to the use of that technology. Did samples get cross-contaminated because of a human error? Did a technician fail to use their machinery properly or neglect proper maintenance that caused the mistake? In such a situation, yo may end up not suing the doctor who misdiagnosed you, because instead you would sue the technician who botched your testing. In rare cases, you may even sue the manufacturer of a faulty machine.

Finding a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Near You

Have you received a medical misdiagnosis that caused you harm? Do you believe that a medical professional acted negligently and is at fault? Your next step is to find a medical malpractice lawyer who can sort out the rest.

If you live in Nashville, Tennessee or in the Middle Tennessee area and need a medical malpractice lawyer, you’ve come to the right place. We begin with a free consultation so that you can discover whether or not you have a case before signing any legally binding paperwork.

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