Understanding Medical Misdiagnosis in Florida
Misdiagnosis of a disease or other medical issue can cause an unfortunate waterfall of consequences for you or your loved ones. If you’re misdiagnosed, you may not receive the treatment you need – leaving the issue untreated. Conversely, receiving treatment for the wrong diagnosis could make your actual medical problem worse.
Failures to properly diagnose an issue and to misdiagnose the problem are a highly common problem within medical malpractice.
Misdiagnosis often occurs due to the following:
Inadequate Medical Exam: An exam that is rushed or not thorough enough could miss an important symptom – and potentially a diagnosis.
Not Listening to Patient’s Symptoms: In many cases, doctors do not effectively listen to a patient’s description of his or her symptoms. Ignoring this critical information could easily lead to a misdiagnosis.
Not Taking a Thorough Enough Medical History: A patient’s medical history is extremely important – especially for older people. Failing to take a medical history into account is often a common reason an issue is misdiagnosed.
Not Ordering Essential Medical Tests: A doctor’s ‘hunch’ often is not enough to conclusively diagnose or rule out an issue. Failing to conduct medical tests that would have otherwise confirmed a diagnosis may allow a disease or illness to go undetected.
Miscommunication Among Medical Staff: Miscommunication or lack of effective communication is another highly common problem in the medical community. If practitioners and other medical staff don’t communicate, this could lead to a missing list of symptoms, a mix-up with critical medical documents, or a misdiagnosis.
If a doctor or another medical practitioner is not performing his or her job properly, a misdiagnosis can occur. This could lead to a greater amount of suffering for those who are misdiagnosed. In more serious cases, it could even lead to death.
Helping Those Who Need It the Most
If you’ve experienced a problem due to medical misdiagnosis in Florida, it’s important to know your rights. That’s why speaking with an attorney who specializes in this area is so critically important. An attorney can help you to understand your rights, plot a legal course of action, and help you obtain the compensation you deserve. If you believe you or a loved one have experienced a medical misdiagnosis, call the attorneys at Baggett Law for a free consultation. 904-396-1100
