We put a lot of trust into the hands of doctors and medical professionals. In some cases, we are very literally putting our lives into their hands. In return, medical professionals have a legal obligation to act with the appropriate amount of care.
When a medical professional fails to exercise this amount of care, and damage to a patient’s results, they may be tried for medical malpractice. Not all mistakes a doctor might make will fall under the umbrella of malpractice, however.
For example, what about when a doctor provides the wrong diagnosis for an issue that a patient is facing? Are these possible grounds for a lawsuit?
Read on and we’ll walk you through everything that you need to know about medical malpractice and incorrect diagnoses.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
There are a lot of requirements for a medical malpractice case to be brought forward. It’s important to mention that doctors can not be held legally responsible for all errors that occur in their care. Medicine, even modern medicine, can be incredibly difficult to get right.
It’s not the error itself the opens the grounds for a medical malpractice suit, but the behavior of a medical professional.
In order to bring a lawsuit forward, a patient must prove three things.
Legal Requirements for Medical Malpractice
One, they must prove that a doctor-patient relationship existed between themselves and the medical professional. That is to say, a person could not sue because casual medical advice was given over the phone.
A real and on-paper relationship between the two parties must have been agreed to on both sides of the equation.
The second thing a patient must prove is the medical professional in question acted negligently. This means that a professional did not provide treatment that would be considered reasonably skillful or competent. The doctor did not provide treatment that was up to reasonable standards.
These standards are often established by bringing in a wealth of other medical professionals to judge the behavior of the doctor. If they find the actions that the doctor took (or didn’t take) to be below a reasonable degree of care, a lawsuit can be brought forward.
The final requirement is that this negligence produced an actual negative result. If a doctor acts negligently but there are no negative repercussions to their actions, a lawsuit can not be brought forward.
However, if their action or lack of action has caused injury to a patient, or worsened their condition, there are grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
All three of these conditions must be met to be able to find a medical professional legally responsible. It is the latter two that are often difficult to prove in a court of law.
Is Wrong Diagnosis Grounds for Malpractice?
Where does that leave a doctor who gives an incorrect diagnosis to a patient? As you might be able to assume from the above information, it really depends on the specific situation.
Whether a wrong diagnosis will be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit will vary on a case-by-case basis. In and of itself, a wrong diagnosis is not negligent. Even the best doctors in the world have the ability to make diagnoses that are later proven to be incorrect. It’s a more common occurrence than we like to think.
This speaks to the great difficulty of practicing medicine. Even those who use a more than reasonable degree of care can still be wrong at the end of the day.
What is more important to look at is the steps that the medical professional in question used to arrive at their diagnosis. In normal situations, a doctor will make a list of a number of potential diagnoses based off the problems a patient is facing.
Through various forms of medical investigation, a doctor will whittle this list down to the most likely medical issue. The investigation itself can take many forms. The doctor might question the patient, take blood samples, or any wide variety of investigative procedures.
When Is a Doctor Negligent?
In what situations will an incorrect diagnosis be considered grounds for medical malpractice? This claim would hold water in instances where a doctor did not take reasonable care in arriving at their diagnosis.
What if the true issue was never even on a doctor’s diagnosis list? If it can be argued that a doctor using reasonable care would of at least considered the correct diagnosis, one could argue for medical malpractice.
If a doctor failed to take the investigative steps that a reasonably responsible doctor would to prove or disprove a diagnosis? They could also potentially be found to be medically negligent.
Of course, this negligence would need to have contributed to actual damage to the patient in order for a medical malpractice claim to hold up in court.
Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis does have the possibility of worsening a patient’s condition, but evidence must be provided that can prove that this link existed. One might be able to argue that undue anxiety, stress, and financial strain are damages that can be sued for in a court of law.
The exact success of this method would depend on the specifics of each case. You should always speak to an attorney to determine what steps are best to take as they pertain to your own situation.
Suing a Doctor for Malpractice
The wrong diagnosis or a delay in diagnosis has the ability to worsen a patient’s condition. Under some circumstances, as described above, a patient may be able to bring a medical malpractice suit forward against a medical professional for this reason.
Need help with your particular medical malpractice case? Give us a call anytime for a free consultation.
