Failure to Diagnose - A Commonly Seen Form of Medical Malpractice

In the United States, failure to diagnose any illness or medical condition is a type of medical malpractice that is commonly seen. There can be devastating consequences for a patient when a doctor fails to diagnose and provides treatment is a timely manner. To know how many people have died because of a misdiagnosis is hard to do however every year tens of thousands of Americans die because of medical mistakes that could have been prevented.

Did Your Doctor Fail to Diagnose Cancer?

There can be a delay in treatment, the wrong treatment given or none at all if cancer is misdiagnosed. Cancer is an illness that needs to be treated early because any delays can cause damage that cannot be reversed. Unfortunately, there are cases when treatment is give when an individual does not have an illness. Even these cases can cause irreversible damage.

Commonly seen cancers that resulted in a wrongly diagnose case include:

• Breast


• Colon


• Cervical


• Lung


• Prostate

If you have suffered damages because your doctor failed to diagnose your cancer or you were mistakenly diagnosed with cancer, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact a professional attorney for a free evaluation.

Other Types of Diagnosis the is often Wrong

Cancer is not the only condition that is often involved in missed diagnose cases. Others include:

• Heart attacks


• Stroke


• Diabetes


• Meningitis


• Blood clots


• Others

Some factors that may cause a doctor to be involved in a mistaken diagnosis are:

• Not listening to the patient


• Not recognizing symptoms


• Misinterpreting symptoms


• Failing to perform required tests


• Misinterpreting lab results

Physicians can be held legally accountable if their negligence harms their patient.

Patient Rights for Diagnosis Malpractice

If you were a victim of a negligent in diagnosis, you have some legal rights and may be able to recover some compensation from medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of earning capability and more. Contact a professional attorney to find out if you are eligible to some compensation. Contact a medical malpractice attorney for a free evaluation.

Statutes of limitations do apply in these types of cases so it is important to file a claim within these time limits. These time restraints vary in every state however, it is usually one to three years from the time of the injury. Your malpractice attorney is aware of these laws and they will work in a timely fashion to get your claim heard. Contact a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible and they will advise you of your legal options.

David Austin is an Attorney focused on complex injury cases. You can learn more about Failure to Diagnose at his website. http://www.Burke-Eisner.com

Medical Malpractice - Failure To Diagnose A Heart Attack

How does a doctor "fail to diagnose a heart attack?"

In one of two ways:

1. He fails to recognize the signs and symptoms of an impending heart attack, or an ongoing heart attack, or

2. He fails to properly interpret the tests that were taken.

Let's talk about #1 above. Typically, a patient will go to a hospital emergency room with complaints of belly or chest pain. The pain could be radiating from the chest to the shoulder or arm. The patient might be sweaty and clammy. They could be experiencing crushing chest pain. The problem arises when the patient's complaints are not typical for what is commonly seen in a heart attack victim.

The words "heart attack" are a misnomer. What do I mean? The doctors refer to a heart attack as a "myocardial infarction." It basically means one of two things: (1) That part of your heart muscle has died, or (2) The blood vessel(s) that supply the heart with blood and oxygen has been cut off, causing part of your heart to starve and possibly die.

When we hear that someone has had heart bypass surgery, it usually means that one or more of the blood vessels that supply the heart with blood and oxygen has been restricted or obstructed, and surgery was done to allow blood to 'bypass' or go around the obstruction.

Sometimes when a patient presents to a doctor or an emergency room with an upset stomach or back pain, the doctor may not correctly interpret the symptoms, and may incorrectly diagnose the patient as having a gastric problem (a problem with their digestive system) and not a cardiac problem. The problem arises when the patient returns home and hours or days later, they die as a result of a 'heart attack'.

Let's discuss #2 above, where the doctor incorrectly interprets the EKG or a stress test, and thinks it's normal, when in reality it is not. Again, the patient is discharged home with instructions on diet and exercise and to follow up with their doctor or cardiologist in a few weeks. Needless to say, the patient returns home and days, weeks, or even months later, the patient dies of a heart attack.

What does a New York medical malpractice attorney look for when evaluating a claim of "failure to diagnose a heart attack?" Your attorney needs to know the following:

1. If you had been correctly diagnosed at the time you had symptoms, what treatment would you have had? Would you have had a stent put in your cardiac artery or vein (a stent is a device designed to open up a clogged artery or vein, and is put in using a catheter, instead of having major open-heart surgery)? Would you have received nitroglycerin to help ease the flow of blood and reduce your pain?

2. Would you have had elective open-heart bypass surgery? By elective, I mean that you have had time to discuss the surgery with your doctor and learn about the risks, benefits and alternatives to the surgery. Sometimes when a patient has had a heart attack, tests might reveal that many of the blood vessels supplying the heart are severely clogged. The patient may then need emergency bypass surgery, and you may not have a chance to discuss any alternatives, as there may not be any at that point.

3. If elective bypass surgery were done, and there was no blood vessel that remained clogged, would you have suffered the heart attack that you ultimately did? If the answer is no, then your potential malpractice case just got stronger. In other words, if your injuries were preventable if you had been timely diagnosed, you would not be in the condition you're in now. That's very significant and important.

Recently, I had the privilege of representing a young man whose cardiac condition was misdiagnosed. He had gone to a hospital with complaints of chest pain that was incorrectly diagnosed. He was told to follow-up with his cardiologist to address his ongoing complaints of chest pain. Three months later, this young man suffered a devastating heart attack, killing off a large part of his heart muscle. When the records were reviewed by cardiologists (heart doctors) we learned that the doctors initially misread the diagnostic tests that were performed, and missed the key opportunity to perform elective heart bypass surgery. As a result of that failure, months went by where the young man continued to complain of chest pain. The heart attack has destroyed this man's life. Unfortunately for him, his heart attack was totally preventable.

A heart attack may be preventable. Let your lawyer know what symptoms, if any, you had when you saw your doctor and what was done for you. Tell your attorney the details of what went on in the emergency room and what tests they performed to find out if you had or were having a heart attack. Prevention is always best. Knowing that a heart attack could have been prevented is second best.

Gerry Oginski is an experienced New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney and practices exclusively in the State of New York. He has tirelessly represented injured victims in all types of medical malpractice and injury cases in the last 19 years. As a solo practitioner he is able to devote 100% of his time to each individual client. A client is never a file number in his office.

Take a look at Gerry's website http://www.oginski-law.com and read his free special reports on malpractice and accident law. Read actual testimony of real doctors in medical malpractice cases. Learn answers to your legal questions. We have over 200 FAQs to the most interesting legal questions. Read about his success stories. Read the latest injury and malpractice news. I guarantee there's something for you. http://www.oginski-law.com 516-487-8207

Also, take a look at Gerry's FREE NY Medical Malpractice video tutorials at http://medicalmalpracticetutorial.blogspot.com

Medical Malpractice and Failure to Diagnose

When the term medical malpractice is used, doctors making surgical mistakes or accidentally physically hurting their patients is usually what comes to mind. The large number of outspoken individuals who do not trust doctors fear that a physician will harm them and that they cannot be trusted. But the majority of medical malpractice cases have nothing to do with a doctor physically harming a patient or even prescribing a drug that harms them. Instead, most cases involve misdiagnoses, diagnostic error or delayed diagnosis.

The Types of Diagnostic Errors

There are a number of ways in which a doctor may fail to treat you correctly as a patient. They are responsible for much more than just treating you, they are also legally responsible for catching certain illnesses and diagnosing them correctly. The types of diagnostic errors a physician can be sued for include:

• Failure to diagnose-a doctor is responsible in many cases for catching early signs of certain cancers, diseases or disorders. If a doctor, for example, treats a patient for a throat issue and fails to pick up on the obvious warning signs for throat cancer and have the patient screened for cancer, he or she can be held legally liable for the further injury or death that may result.

• Delayed diagnosis-a diagnosis for deadly diseases and conditions must be made promptly when the physical signs are present. If a doctor has a patient who complains of dizziness, coordination or visual hallucinations who he or she fails to screen for brain cancer until the cancer has developed to a debilitating point, the doctor can be sued.

• Misdiagnosis-it is also the responsibility of a doctor to make the correct diagnosis. It is common for doctors to make the wrong diagnosis in difficult cases, but the doctor should continue to take all possible routes towards finding the correct diagnosis. If a doctor did not bother to send the patient through the proper testing to ensure that his or her diagnosis was appropriate, this inaction can be seen as gross negligence.

Laymen rely on the expert knowledge of trained, professional doctors to help them understand what is going on in their bodies. It is the duty of doctors to provide this service to their patients to the very best of their ability.

For more information regarding medical malpractice and diagnostic errors, visit the website of the personal injury attorneys of Webb, Wade, Taylor & Thompson, LLC.

Joseph Devine

Medical Malpractice - Failure To Diagnose Ectopic Pregnancy

An ectopic pregnancy is potentially life threatening.

By definition, an ectopic pregnancy is one that is outside of the uterus. Why is it life threatening? In order to answer the question, it is important to learn where a normal pregnancy is supposed to be.

When fertilization occurs, the fertilized egg makes its' way to the uterus where it embeds itself for the next nine months. The uterus will provide shelter, food and nutrients. In some cases, the fertilized egg does not make its' way into the uterus, and instead winds up lodged within the fallopian tube. When that happens the egg will embed itself in the tissues of the fallopian tube and start to grow.

Well, when that egg starts to grow in a tiny narrow tube that is not meant to accommodate a growing baby, the potential for disaster and life threatening illness arises. Often, a woman will experience bleeding, back pain, flank pain, and continued elevated blood serum pregnancy levels (known as Beta Hcg levels). Rising levels generally indicate the pregnancy is ongoing and continuing.

When an ectopic pregnancy is suspected, the physician will generally want to examine the patient every other day, and also obtain "serial Hcg" levels in order to evaluate whether the pregnancy hormone levels are increasing, decreasing or staying level. This will assist the physician in determining whether the pregnancy is active. A sonogram after about the 7th week of gestation can usually determine if the pregnancy is within the uterus. If the pregnancy hormone levels are increasing, and the pregnancy is not within the uterus, and the patient is experiencing symptoms, a higher level of suspicion must be entertained that the patient is suffering from an ectopic pregnancy.

The key question is when does the surgeon intervene before the fallopian tube ruptures? A ruptured ectopic can cause catastrophic internal bleeding causing death within minutes. When to operate? If an operation is performed early, can the fallopian tube be saved? Can the ectopic pregnancy be excised from the tube and the tube put back together? Or will the entire tube have to be removed? If the pregnancy is only removed, and the tube is reconstructed, will your fertility chances diminish? If your fallopian tube is removed, will your fertility be affected?

All of these questions are valid and require an expert gynecologist to fully answer them.

Often times, in failure to diagnose ectopic pregnancy cases in New York, the patient will have symptoms that should suggest to the doctor the likelihood of an ectopic pregnancy. It is important for your medical malpractice attorney to look carefully at the medical records to determine what complaints, if any, you made to your doctor or hospital emergency room, and whether those complaints were recognized or ignored. Did the doctor recognize the possibility that you might have an ectopic? Or was it not on the radar screen? These are important factors to look at when evaluating a potential case.

Gerry Oginski is an experienced New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney and practices exclusively in the State of New York. He has tirelessly represented injured victims in all types of medical malpractice and injury cases in the last 19 years. As a solo practitioner he is able to devote 100% of his time to each individual client. A client is never a file number in his office.

Take a look at Gerry's website http://www.oginski-law.com and read his free special reports on malpractice and accident law. Read actual testimony of real doctors in medical malpractice cases. Learn answers to your legal questions. We have over 200 FAQs to the most interesting legal questions. Read about his success stories. Read the latest injury and malpractice news. I guarantee there's something for you. http://www.oginski-law.com 516-487-8207

Also, take a look at Gerry's FREE NY Medical Malpractice video tutorials at http://medicalmalpracticetutorial.blogspot.com