Failure to diagnose occurs when a doctor or other healthcare professional does not correctly diagnose a patient’s condition and their condition becomes worse as a result.
Florida requires doctors and other healthcare professionals to provide their patients with a certain level of care. This may also include accurately diagnosing a patient’s condition in a timely fashion.
When a doctor fails to diagnose a patient’s condition and the patient fails to get the proper care because of it, the patient can suffer injuries a result. Their condition can become worse, possibly to the point where it is no longer treatable. They may also experience:
- Extra medical expenses
- Prolonged medical treatment
- Lost wages and employment
- Unnecessary pain and suffering
- Premature death
These are some of the losses a patient can experience when a doctor fails to diagnose their condition.
Injury Victim
If your medical condition has gotten worse because of a doctor’s diagnostic error, you may be able to recover compensation for your losses by filing a medical malpractice claim. Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney Lisa Levine has successfully represented many clients who have been the victims of a doctor’s failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, or delayed diagnosis.
Talk to Lisa before you agree to any kind of settlement with an insurance company.
Why Do Failure to Diagnose Claims Happen?
How do these kinds of errors occur in the first place? There are many reasons for a failure to diagnose, including:
- Miscommunication between medical professionals
- Failing to order the proper tests
- Incorrectly reading a lab test
- Failing to respond to a patient’s request or complaints
- Failing to recognize symptoms
- Inaccurate lab test
Many serious medical conditions have symptoms that are similar to those that aren’t so serious. That’s why it’s important that a doctor take the time to thoroughly exam a patient’s symptoms to arrive at an accurate diagnosis of their condition.
Some of the more common medical conditions that fail to be diagnosed include:
- Lyme disease
- Fetal distress
- Infections
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Inflammatory bowel syndrome
- Multiple sclerosis
- Hypothyroidism
- Parkinson’s disease
- Drug toxicity
Can You Sue a Doctor for Failure to Diagnose?
If your medical condition has gotten worse or could have been improved, can you sue a doctor for failure to diagnose in Florida? Yes, but only if you can show the doctor, medical professional or laboratory was negligent in failing to diagnose your condition. In order to prevail in a medical malpractice lawsuit in Florida, you have to be able to prove that:
- You had a professional relationship with the doctor (you were a patient seeking treatment);
- The doctor was negligent in his care, and this negligence resulted in the misdiagnosis of your condition;
- Your condition was made worse due to this negligence; and
- You suffered damages as a result of the doctor’s failure to diagnose your condition.
It’s important to remember that not all medical errors, including a failure to diagnose, rise to the level of medical malpractice. You have to be able to show that the error that caused your condition to worsen or not resolve quicker was the result of negligence on the part of the doctor.
If you believe a doctor was negligent in their failure to diagnose your medical condition, an experienced medical malpractice attorney like Lisa Levine can help you determine the reasons that caused the doctor to fail to diagnose your condition as well as assign a dollar value to your damages and losses. She’ll be able to examine the medical records and other evidence that supports your case, as well as negotiate with the doctor’s insurance company to get you the best settlement possible.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Failure to Diagnose Lawsuit?
In a Florida medical malpractice lawsuit, a doctor or other medical professional can be held liable for failing to diagnose an illness or injury. In some cases, other parties may be found to have vicarious liability. Parties such as a hospital, which have a legal relationship with the responsible doctor, may also be held responsible in a malpractice lawsuit.
Get Help from a Leading Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Attorney
A doctor’s failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis can have a devastating effect on a patient’s health. If your medical condition was made worse because of a doctor’s negligent diagnostic error, Florida law gives you the right to seek compensation for the damages caused by their error and suing a doctor for failure to diagnose may be your only way to recover these losses.
Don’t wait to take action to protect your rights. Florida has strict statutes of limitation laws. If you wait too long to file your claim, the courts may refuse to hear your case.
Contact the law offices of Lisa Levine to schedule a free, no-obligation initial consultation. She has helped clients throughout Broward County, including Ft. Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Sunrise, Boca Raton, Weston, and Hollywood, FL, who have been injured due to the negligence of a medical professional. Lisa handles failure to diagnose and other medical malpractice claims on a contingency basis, which means there are no up-front costs for her clients and Lisa only collects her fee after she’s secured your settlement.
