The Top Ways in Which a Medical Misdiagnosis is Made

When a patient comes into the hospital with pains, discomfort, and more, there may be concerns. A physician’s first thought is to run some tests or give the patient a necessary examination based on their symptoms. However, sometimes physicians and other medical professionals fail to detect diseases or conditions that lead to diseases, which is known as a medical misdiagnosis. In some cases, this could lead to irreversible or deadly results. There are many types of misdiagnosis, which we will cover.

Types of Misdiagnosis 

Delayed Diagnosis: Sometimes, the patient waits a long time to see a doctor and by this point, things can get off to a rough start. Delayed diagnosis can come from many aspects of the process, such as disregarding symptoms of a patient, assumption of a benign condition, failure to review lab reports, and failure to follow-up on tests.

Failure to Order Tests: Sometimes, the tests aren’t even conducted even though the patient claims that they are having symptoms. If diseases are detected in their earliest stages, there is a good chance that it will lead to better results down the road.

Disease-Free Patient: Sometimes, a patient undergoes many tests and procedures when they never actually had a disease in the first place. In some of the most severe cases, they may have been put through chemotherapy or radiation when they didn’t actually need it. However, in doing so, the physician is actually ignoring the fact that the patient is still experiencing symptoms of another disease, and the treatment is being put off. 

Improper Treatment: Sometimes, the treatment does not fit the disease. They could have the wrong organ operated on, have chemotherapy inappropriately administered, or receive the wrong medications. 

Loss of Records: When a patient’s records go missing, their plans for treatment and all lab results are lost with it – and from here, misdiagnosis can occur. 

Misread Test Results: Sometimes, a physician could misread the findings from tests. They could fail to properly read a CAT scan and fail to detect internal bleeding or brain injuries. This could prevent the patient from receiving necessary brain surgery or cancer diagnosis.

There are many ways in which a patient’s condition could be misdiagnosed. This can be a scary time in a person’s life and, because of this, it is a good idea to speak with a personal injury attorney. These cases can become serious and life-threatening.