When you turn to a medical professional, you are putting your trust in them to use their expertise and provide you with the best care they can. Unfortunately, doctors can make serious mistakes that have life-altering—even deadly—impacts on their patients.
If a doctor’s mistake led to you receiving a delayed diagnosis, a North Miami failure to diagnose lawyer could help determine if you have cause for a case. If so, a medical malpractice attorney may be able to get a settlement offer or court judgment for your losses.
Florida Statutes § 766 establishes how the state determines negligence in these types of cases. Because of the nature of the medical profession, where even high-quality care can result in injuries, it is not enough to establish malpractice simply because the outcome of treatment was not what the patient wanted. Instead, a medical professional is found negligent when their actions deviate from the professional standard of care. In other words, a doctor is required to act within the expectations of their profession and training. When they fail to do so, they can be held legally liable for the outcomes.
Sometimes, a medical professional’s failure to act within the standard of care may lead to an incorrect or missed diagnosis. This can result in delayed care, additional pain and suffering, and even cause permanent injury or death that would not have occurred otherwise. Here are some of the most common failure to diagnose situations that lead to serious outcomes:
If a patient told their doctor about a breast lump and had a family medical history of breast cancer, the reasonable standard of care would be to order a biopsy or mammogram. If a doctor with access to this information dismissed the patient without ordering these diagnostic tests, the patient could experience a progression of undiagnosed cancer. That missed diagnosis could make the cancer advance beyond treatment options.
Heart attack symptoms are serious and deserve caution and careful examination as a reasonable standard of care. If a patient comes to the ER with heart attack symptoms and a medical professional misdiagnoses the patient with a less serious cause—such as indigestion or a pulled muscle—the patient could face serious heart damage or death.
One common misdiagnosis is infections that are dismissed as influenza. These mistakes can cause patients to miss out on treatment, and — especially in children — the infection could progress into something more serious, like bacterial meningitis.
An attorney in North Miami could determine whether a medical professional’s failure to diagnose could be the basis for a lawsuit.
In a failure to diagnose case, a lawyer in North Miami will first establish the expected standard of care and then collect evidence to demonstrate that the medical professional did not follow it. This evidence will require careful consideration of medical records and lab reports. The lawyer will then gather evidence such as expert testimony and medical research to demonstrate that the missed or mistaken diagnosis led to damages for their client.
If a medical professional failed to properly diagnose your condition in a timely manner, you may have missed out on treatment options, pain relief, and the best course of care. It can be difficult to know what has crossed the line into malpractice, but we are here to help. Call now to speak with a North Miami failure to diagnose lawyer who will take the time to listen to your case and evaluate your options.
(305) 876-6001