Duty and Breach in a Medical Misdiagnosis Claim

Medical misdiagnosis is the most common medical malpractice claim. Misdiagnosis claims usually involve severe physical and emotional injuries. Cancer, one of the most frequently misdiagnosed medical conditions, is a good example.

Cancer survival rates are relatively high if doctors promptly and properly treat this disease. But any treatment or diagnosis delay causes the survival rate to plummet. In other words, a delayed cancer diagnosis often transforms a serious illness into a fatal one. That’s a very difficult pill for victims to swallow, both physically and emotionally.

Because of these severe injuries, if a breach of duty causes injury, a San Marcos personal injury lawyer can obtain substantial compensation in these cases. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Additional punitive damages are usually available in these matters as well.

Legal Duty

In professional negligence cases, San Marcos personal injury lawyers often focus on the standard of care. Once again, cancer is a good example.

Initial cancer symptoms include unspecified pain and radical weight loss. Genetic and family history factors play a role as well. The standard of care is clear in these cases. Doctors must consider the possibility of cancer, order appropriate diagnostic tests, carefully interpret the results of that test, and base medical decisions solely on those test results.

Usually, the standard of care is a little higher in large urban areas like San Diego, where doctors have access to almost unlimited resources. The standard of care is inherently high in medical misdiagnosis cases. Most professionals have a fiduciary duty of care. They must set aside all other priorities, such as work-life balance and making money, and only do what’s best for their patients.

Breach of Duty

We mentioned the four areas of the standard of care above. A derelict doctor could easily breach the duty of care in all four areas.

When confronted with initial cancer symptoms, many doctors don’t consider this illness. On average, during patient consultations, doctors listen to patients describe their symptoms for about seven seconds. Then, they usually jump to conclusions. A diagnosis based on professional instinct is not legally reliable.

If doctors suspect cancer, they often don’t order a full battery of diagnostic tests. Most doctors want to avoid the dreaded “defensive medicine” label. Other doctors are afraid the patient’s insurance company won’t pay for all the tests.

When the results come back, many doctors over-delegate test result interpretation to nurses or even patient care technicians. These professionals simply aren’t qualified to do these jobs, any more than a San Marcos personal injury lawyer is qualified to extract a tooth.

Finally, some doctors breach their duty of care by ignoring evidence or dismissing the issue as a “borderline” case that doesn’t require aggressive treatment.

Connect With a Thorough San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in San Marcos, contact the Pursley Law Firm. You have a limited amount of time to act.

Source:

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5873736/