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$5 million settlement for a client for failure to diagnose and treat an infection after spinal surgery that led to screws moving, causing paraplegia
Visiting a doctor, nurse practitioner, or other healthcare professional about serious or even minor medical symptoms means putting an enormous amount of trust into their knowledge, expertise, and competence. Often, reaching a diagnosis for symptoms is the biggest hurdle to receiving care.
When the very medical practitioners we look to for answers make negligent mistakes like overlooking key symptoms, misreading or misinterpreting scans, and failing or order proper diagnostic testing, they not only breach their patients’ trust, but could cause undue delays in critical treatment or cause patients to undergo arduous, even traumatic procedures or medication regimens unnecessarily due to their error.
Failure to diagnose occurs when a medical care provider fails to identify a condition entirely, while misdiagnosis involves incorrectly identifying a condition as something else.
Both failure to diagnose and misdiagnosis are serious forms of medical malpractice that result from negligence and can have catastrophic consequences. Diagnostic errors can easily lead to needless medical expenses, emotional anguish, and horrific, even tragic outcomes. A recent study in BMJ Quality & Safety estimates that 795,000 patients die or suffer permanent disability in the U.S. each year due to misdiagnoses.
If you or a loved one suffered undue harm due to a diagnostic error, you may be entitled to legal compensation. To learn more about filing a failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis lawsuit in Pennsylvania, consult an experienced injury attorney
Sometimes, rather than give an incorrect diagnosis, medical negligence prevents a healthcare practitioner from making a diagnosis altogether. This may occur when a patient presents certain symptoms that are known to fit a particular illness, yet their physician or other medical caregiver does not immediately recognize it. Failure to diagnose could also result from a negligent doctor or clinical professional dismissing or overlooking legitimate potential health concerns that a patient raises, refusing to investigate properly or take further action.
Failure to diagnose begins a chain reaction of improper treatment or lack of treatment:
Failure for a patient to receive a diagnosis can lead to excessive medical costs, irreversible damage, and in some cases, even death. Failure to diagnose cancer, strokes, depression, meningitis, brain tumors, infections, and hundreds of other medical problems in a timely manner causes patients to miss out on early interventions that could significantly improve their prognosis and quality of life. And unsurprisingly, race and gender have been shown to play a role in a patient’s ability to receive a diagnosis: in fact, women and minority patients suffering from heart attacks are more likely than others to be discharged without diagnosis or treatment.
A medical professional whose diagnostic negligence toward a patient prevents treatment or causes other undue harm deserves to be held accountable. Victims can sue a doctor for failure to diagnose and gain compensation for the losses and other damages they incur.
Failure to diagnose and misdiagnosis cases can be complicated to litigate, requiring highly experienced medical malpractice lawyers whose past case results demonstrate their ability to achieve favorable outcomes for clients despite the intricacies that are often involved in these types of claims.
The potential success of a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose lawsuit relies not only on satisfying strict jurisdiction and statute of limitations requirements, but also on proving that negligence played a role in the misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose. A successful outcome and ability to file a suit also depends on the state you live in. For instance, according to a recent state Supreme Court ruling, as of January 1, 2023, Pennsylvania malpractice claims can be filed in any county in which the matter occurred, where a defendant could be served, or where any occurrence happened that contributed to the cause of the suit.
Even the most diligent medical professionals are capable of honest mistakes in the course of treating and diagnosing patients; however, those mistakes only constitute negligence when:
In a typical legal claim, victims of medical negligence may be entitled to a robust compensation package that covers not only their total expenses to date, but also the estimated long-term costs of their resultant medical condition(s), lost wages due to missed work time or inability to work, and consideration for the devastating emotional pain and suffering they endure. Furthermore, healthcare practitioners found to be grossly negligent or reckless may also be assessed punitive damages.
Additionally, family members who lose loved ones due to wrongful death stemming from a diagnostic error can obtain full coverage for economic damages, such as medical costs, funeral costs, and loss of income as a result of misdiagnosis. Family members may also receive compensation for non-economic damages, such as mental anguish in a failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis lawsuit settlement or court judgment.
At The Beasley Firm in Philadelphia, our team of skilled attorneys employs an impressive staff of medical professionals with years of experience and insight. We can help you pursue justice in your medical malpractice case as we’ve done consistently for as long as we’ve been in practice.
Since 1958, we have obtained over $2 billion on behalf our clients, with tens of millions of dollars in failure to diagnose and misdiagnosis verdicts and settlements alone, including:
Of course, no settlement or judgment amount can truly compensate for lifetime disability or the loss of a loved one. But when a healthcare entity’s or practitioner’s failure to deliver adequate diagnostic care causes real pain, harm, or distress, it is only fair that they are held accountable.
Work with our nationally recognized firm to pursue the just compensation you deserve. Call The Beasley Firm at (215) 866-2424 or contact us online today for a free case evaluation.
A misdiagnosis lawsuit is when an injured or harmed patient files a medical malpractice claim against a healthcare provider that did not diagnose their condition correctly despite evidence that they reasonably should have reached the proper diagnosis. In a misdiagnosis lawsuit, the affected party typically seeks compensation for the undue medical costs, future care expenses, lost wages, and emotional impact of their injury.
Any party that failed to take reasonable actions to meet an adequate standard of care in the course of diagnosing a condition can be found liable for misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose. That includes individual practitioners such as doctors, surgeons, nurses, nurse practitioners, diagnostic techs and lab techs, as well as healthcare entities like hospitals, outpatient facilities and imaging centers, and even, in certain cases, manufacturers of faulty diagnostic equipment that may produce errant readings leading to misdiagnoses.
The statute of limitations in a particular state determines how long a misdiagnosis victim has to file a lawsuit. In Pennsylvania, patients who suffer harm resulting from misdiagnoses have up to two years after learning of the diagnostic negligence in which to file a claim for compensation; however, misdiagnosis cases are complex and can take significant time to compile, so it is important to contact a medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible if you are considering taking legal action.
Disclaimer: The information on this website is for general information purposes only. Nothing on this site should be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. This information is not intended to create, and receipt or viewing does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship.