Do You Have a Claim After a Delayed Diagnosis?

When people think about medical malpractice, they tend to think of the dramatic stories that make the headlines: doctors performing surgery on the wrong patient, removing the wrong limb, or giving a fatal dose of medication. But in many cases, the tragedy lies in what a care provider doesn’t do. The tests they fail to order, the questions they don’t ask, and the symptoms they don’t give a second thought to can all lead to delayed care. In some cases, those delays prove fatal.

If you’ve suffered because of a delayed diagnosis, you may have a medical malpractice claim. Let’s talk about it—call Nace Law Group to set up a consultation now.

What is delayed diagnosis?

Delayed diagnosis occurs when a healthcare provider fails to diagnose a medical condition in a reasonable amount of time. In comparison, misdiagnosis involves an incorrect diagnosis and a missed diagnosis is one that never occurs. There are numerous reasons this may happen. A doctor may not listen to a patient’s symptoms or connect them to the actual health issue they are having. They might listen to a patient’s concerns but fail to order the diagnostic screenings that would allow them to get an accurate diagnosis. In some cases, a doctor’s experience can actually work against them—if a certain condition largely excludes people of a certain demographic, when someone from that demographic presents with that condition, they may not even consider it.

The consequences of a delayed diagnosis

When a patient’s condition is diagnosed later than it should be, they may suffer a variety of consequences. Consider, for example, cancer. If a patient has a particularly fast-growing form of cancer, waiting additional weeks or months for an accurate diagnosis gives that cancer time to grow and metastasize to other parts of the body. This often means that more aggressive plan of treatment is needed, putting a patient through exhausting and physically painful procedures that they may have been able to avoid with a faster diagnosis.

Sometimes, the fallout is even worse. Following the example given earlier, the prognosis for cancer often depends on how quickly it is identified and treated. A delay in treatment often translates to a worse prognosis—and that means that patients can die because of a delayed diagnosis.

While the health effects of a delayed diagnosis are obviously the worst part of it, we can’t ignore the financial devastation that it can cause. Delayed care that allows a condition to worsen generally means more extensive, costly, and involved treatment. That hits patients with extra expenses when they’re already dealing with a serious health problem.

Your legal options

If you believe that a doctor has failed to diagnose you in a timely manner, you may be able to seek justice with a medical malpractice claim. A medical malpractice claim strives to make you whole. While a settlement or jury award can never give you back the time you’ve lost or take back the pain you suffered because of aggressive treatments, it can at least start to compensate you for what you have lost.

In addition to a medical malpractice lawsuit, patients may also take their case to their state’s medical board. Medical practitioners are held to extremely high standards, and when their failure to meet those standards leads to patient harm, the medical board may want to intervene.

Determining whether or not you have a claim

First, it’s important to note that medical malpractice is a very complex area of law. Figuring out whether or not you have a claim involves more than just determining whether or not you’ve suffered a poor outcome. Your medical malpractice attorney will look at the available evidence to determine whether or not your care provider met their standard of care. This involves comparing what the care provider did to what a provider with similar training and experience would do in the same situation. In some cases, there’s little to no difference—and that means that malpractice may not have occurred.

How can a late diagnosis not be malpractice? Doctors are not perfect, and they can only work with the information that’s in front of them. Sometimes, medical conditions can present in extremely unusual or atypical ways. They may lack the hallmark symptoms that lead to diagnosis while causing symptoms that are incredibly rare. When this happens, no matter how thorough a doctor is or how much they try to ensure a timely diagnosis, they may need more time than you’d expect. This is likely not malpractice—just unfortunate circumstances.

You also have to look at your actual damages. When people talk about medical malpractice, they sometimes talk about what could have happened as a result of a doctor’s negligence. But medical malpractice claims don’t deal with what could have happened. They respond to what actually happened. So if a doctor did fail to diagnose you in a timely manner but that delayed diagnosis didn’t lead to increased medical costs, more aggressive treatment needs, or a worsened prognosis, you may not have actual damages. You could still report the incident to the medical board, but you would likely have a hard time trying to recover compensation.

Potential compensation

Compensation for a delayed diagnosis can take several forms. First, you may be able to get compensation for the extra medical costs incurred by the delay. This often includes hospital stays, additional diagnostic screenings, surgeries, medications, and other treatments that you would not have needed if you’d had a timely diagnosis.

You may also recoup your lost wages if the delayed diagnosis forces you to spend additional time out of work and without income. This is especially important if the delayed diagnosis meant that you needed a longer recovery period or more time off for treatment.

Pain and suffering may also be awarded, particularly if the doctor’s negligence meant you had to undergo more painful or uncomfortable treatment.

Find out how Nace Law Group can help you

At Nace Law Group, we’re passionate about helping patients who have suffered due to care providers’ negligence. Find out how we can help you. Contact us online or call us to schedule your no-obligation appointment.