Fort Lauderdale Misdiagnosis Lawyers Who Care

A misdiagnosis most commonly results in frustration and inconvenience for the patient. Unfortunately, a misdiagnosis can also put their health at risk and even result in death or serious bodily harm. If you were misdiagnosed by your doctor, contact the Fort Lauderdale misdiagnosis lawyers at Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman, PLLC as soon as possible. 

Three Different Types of Misdiagnosis

Physicians, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals can misdiagnose you in different ways. It is important to identify precisely how you were misdiagnosed in order for your claim to be successful. As experienced Fort Lauderdale misdiagnosis lawyers, we have helped our clients get fair compensation in every type of misdiagnosis case. 

Failure to Diagnose

The most common instance of misdiagnosis is when your doctor or health care provider does not make any diagnosis at all.This is arguably the most dangerous type of misdiagnosis and often occurs when a health care provider fails to identify an abnormality on X-ray or other study thereby allowing would could be a life threatening condition to go untreated which often causes health care providers to be dismissive of your subjective complaints and fail to acknowledge that something is wrong. As a result, critical time is lost as the actual cause of your illness goes untreated and your condition gets worse and often becomes untreatable. 

Incorrect Diagnosis

An incorrect diagnosis occurs when your doctor diagnoses you with an illness you don’t actually have. Not only does your actual illness go untreated, but you receive treatment and medication for an illness you don’t actually have. As a result, you undergo treatment that is ineffective and leads to additional complications or illnesses – something that can be harmful in and of itself. Meanwhile, the real cause of your illness goes untreated and possibly gets worse, later requiring more extensive treatment than it would have originally required had you been correctly diagnosed. 

Delayed Diagnosis

Making the right diagnosis can take time, and doctors can be delayed by waiting for test results, imaging, or feedback from other consultations. However, unreasonable delays that result in harm to patients are unacceptable. You should contact our Fort Lauderdale misdiagnosis lawyers if you have suffered harm as a result of any of the following: 

• Your doctor or healthcare provider failed to follow up on lab results in a timely fashion;
• Your doctor failed to make a prompt referral to a specialist;
• You experienced delays due to basic mismanagement of your provider’s medical practice. 

A delayed diagnosis can cost valuable time and result in irreparable harm, even if the diagnosis that was eventually made was accurate. Our team can assess your case and explain your options. 

Common Causes of Misdiagnosis 

A misdiagnosis can happen for a variety of reasons, including healthcare professionals who are simply unqualified. Identifying the cause of the misdiagnosis will be critical in proving your case. If you have been misdiagnosed, reach out to one of our Fort Lauderdale misdiagnosis lawyers as soon as possible. 

Failure to Conduct a Thorough Examination

Misdiagnoses often results when doctors rush through their diagnostic examination. Our misdiagnosed clients commonly report that their medical providers rushed them through their appointments, were dismissive of their symptoms, or simply didn’t listen to them. We often find that their doctors failed to ask critical questions that were necessary for making the correct diagnosis. Failure to conduct a thorough medical examination or get a complete history means that the provider will likely miss important symptoms and other details that would lead to the correct diagnosis and timely treatment to alleviate the condition. 

Failure to Adequately Review Your Medical Records

Another common cause of misdiagnosis is the failure to conduct a thorough review of your medical records. Your medical records include information that is critical to making the correct diagnosis. Unfortunately, many medical practices have such a high volume of patients that they routinely fail to review a patient’s history. Whatever the reason, failure to properly review your medical records can easily lead to a misdiagnosis. 

Misdiagnosis Caused By Testing Errors

Testing errors can arise in a variety of ways. These cases can be difficult because identifying where the error occurred will likely determine who is at fault. Here are some of the ways that testing errors can result in a misdiagnosis for patients: 

• Failure to order tests. If your doctor is uncertain of your diagnosis, they should order the appropriate tests to aid in making a proper diagnosis. Failure to order the proper tests often results in an incorrect or delayed diagnosis. 
• Unreasonable testing delays. Testing delays can arise in a variety of ways, including delays in scheduling the test, delays in transmitting the test results, delays in getting the test authorized by health insurance, and failure to follow up on test results in a timely manner. Depending on the source of the delay, either the doctor, the lab or your health insurer may be at fault. 
• Testing protocol errors. Labs must follow strict protocols in conducting the tests, handling samples, and transmitting results. These errors can include contamination of samples, performing the wrong test, using equipment that has not been properly calibrated, and mixing up results. 
• Misreading or misinterpreting test results. Once the testing has been completed, your doctor must carefully read and interpret the results. Many misdiagnoses occur because their doctors failed to identify problematic results in bloodwork, X-rays or other diagnostic studies hat would indicate a serious health issue. 

Identifying the cause of your misdiagnosis is not easy. Fortunately, you do not need to do this on your own. If you received a misdiagnosis, the Fort Lauderdale misdiagnosis lawyers at LCTR will thoroughly investigate your case and identify what went wrong and who should be held accountable. 

Fort Lauderdale Misdiagnosis Lawyers Proving Medical Malpractice

Some illnesses or medical conditions can be difficult to diagnose, and the fact that your doctor made a misdiagnosis does not necessarily mean that you have a medical malpractice claim. You need to prove that your doctor or other healthcare provider(s) deviated from the standard of care in some way. In other words, we must establish that your health care provider did something a reasonable health care provider would not not have done or did not do something a reasonable health care provider would have done. If you have suffered harm as a result of a misdiagnosis, the Fort Lauderdale misdiagnosis lawyers at LCRT can review your case and determine whether your misdiagnosis was the result of medical malpractice and provide guidance as to whether or not you should consider pursuing a claim. 

Contact the Fort Lauderdale Misdiagnosis Lawyers at Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman, PLLC

If you have been misdiagnosed, we’re here for you. Contact us today via phone or email to schedule a free case assessment and to discuss your options and how we can help.