When Failure to Diagnose Turns Deadly

Medical malpractice is defined as "an act of action or omission" by a health care professional that results in injury or death to the patient. It is important to realize the "omission" part of this definition, as what a doctor actively does wrong can be just as deadly as what a doctor doesn't do.

There are many times where a failure to diagnose a patient occurs, but the patient does not suffer any adverse effects. It may be that a patient comes in with the flu which the doctor does not diagnose. Unless the patient is geriatric, this failure will likely result in nothing more than a bit of confusion. Fortunately, the patient is not hurt.

There are certain ailments, however, that require very prompt diagnosis or the patient may be seriously injured or die. A good example of this is with fast moving cancers. If a patient comes in complaining of symptoms of a certain cancer and the doctor sends him or her home with a clean bill of health, the patient may end up waiting weeks or months to go back to the doctor. Oftentimes patients will wait until the symptoms become unbearable to seek a second opinion. In the case of a fast moving cancer, by the time the patient finally goes back to the doctor the cancer will likely have metastasized. At this point, the patient's prognosis is often very dim as for many cancers, the key to successful eradication is early detection and early treatment.

Serious Ailments and Failure to Diagnose

Ailments that are fast moving require instant diagnosis. Some ailments which need to be addressed immediately in order for the patient to survive or go without injury include:

Cancer
Stroke
Heart attack
Appendicitis

All medical professionals should be held accountable for all mistakes that they make when treating a patient, whether these mistakes occur through action or inaction.

To find out more about failure to diagnose, visit the website of the Iowa medical malpractice lawyers of LaMarca & Landry, P.C.