What Qualifies as a Medical Misdiagnosis?

As a form of medical malpractice, misdiagnosis describes any of the following breaches of care:

• Failure to diagnose: If a doctor or qualified medical professional fails to recognize and diagnose conditions like heart attack, cancer, or stroke (to name a few critical examples), the consequences could be fatal. A Houston failure to diagnose lawyer can provide assistance for these specific types of claims.‍
• Failure to respond or admit for care: Dismissing or underestimating complaints of patients without performing diagnostic surveys (like X-rays or blood tests). This is a direct violation of healthcare oaths and protocols that could lead to worsening injury for the patient.‍
• Failure to follow up appropriately: A failure to monitor for a likely complication is another form of medical negligence. Examples include watching for infection after surgery, or limiting the risk of a blood clot after discovering deep vein thrombosis.‍
• Slow or delayed care: When a doctor or medical professional fails to realize the gravity and emergency of a condition, the clock is ticking. The longer the delay, the more damage is done, some of which may be irreversible. For example, a delay of care when an unborn baby is in distress could cause oxygen deprivation and brain injury.‍
• Misdiagnosis: If a doctor provides an incorrect diagnosis, they provide damaging/unnecessary treatment while the true condition worsens. An example would be mistaking a heart attack for a panic attack.

A classic example of misdiagnosis still used as a teaching case today is Valentino’s Syndrome, which caused the death of Old Hollywood film star Rudolph Valentino at age 31. It’s a situation where a perforated ulcer is easily misdiagnosed as appendicitis. By treating the wrong condition, a patient undergoes unnecessary surgery to remove a perfectly functioning organ, while the real condition continues to fester untreated. The untreated condition can then go on to cause pain, further medical complications, or even death.

If you’ve suffered injuries or a delay in care due to a missed condition or misdiagnosis, call 832-690-7000 to speak with the medical malpractice lawyers at Pierce Skrabanek about filing a lawsuit.

What Are the Statistics on Medical Misdiagnosis Fatalities?

Healthcare insurance in the United States is often tied to employment, and many preventative care visits are skipped because they are too expensive for families to afford. When a person finally has the time and the funds to seek medical care, it is vital that the staff is both competent and comprehensive. The statistics unfortunately do not bear that out.

According to research funded by the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, and conducted by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, out of 55,000 malpractice claims analyzed:

• 74.1% of serious misdiagnosis claims occurred in three main categories: cancer (37.8%), vascular events (22.8%), and infection (13.5%)
• Roughly 12 million people in the U.S. are impacted by medical misdiagnosis malpractice annually
• Between 40,000-80,000 people die each year due to complications from misdiagnoses
• Women and people of color are 20-30% more likely to be misdiagnosed
• A ratio of 1 in 3 misdiagnoses result in severe injury or death
• Misdiagnosis errors cause 10% of total patient deaths

Commonly misdiagnosed conditions in Houston include chronic illnesses like diabetes and cancer, as well as emergency conditions like pulmonary embolism or appendicitis. Rare and difficult to diagnose conditions like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, lupus, and fibromyalgia are even more likely to be overlooked.

Rare illnesses are known as “zebra” conditions, so called because doctors are often taught that the simplest explanation for symptoms is usually the correct one. The phrase in medical school is, ​​“When you hear the sound of hooves, think horses, not zebras.”

If you are injured by diagnostic failures, you are not just a statistic to the medical misdiagnosis attorneys at Pierce Skrabanek. Contact a Houston failure to diagnose attorney for fierce advocacy in seeking the resources you need for proper treatment and recovery.

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