Failure to Diagnose
This includes a failure to diagnose a condition, or the wrong diagnosis of a medical illness or injury.
We usually become aware that we are ill or injured as a result of experiencing symptoms. Unfortunately, some illnesses share some common symptoms, for example a really bad headache could be a symptom of either dehydration or a brain haemorrhage, which could lead to death within a matter of hours if left undiagnosed and untreated. Doctors are therefore trained to recognise symptoms and perform or request certain tests to diagnose the correct illnesses. However, doctors can, on occasion, sometimes fail to diagnose an illness, or misdiagnose an illness as something else.
Examples could include the following:
- Failure to diagnose a fracture, or other injury, such as a head injury.
- Failure to diagnose a medical illness.
- Being diagnosed with a cancer you do not have. This may involve unnecessary treatment or surgery and have a huge emotional impact.
- Similarly misdiagnosis when a cancer is present is quite common, as symptoms of the cancer can be very similar to other common conditions, or may not become evident until the cancer is far advanced.
- Late diagnosis of a cancer and the subsequent delay in treatment may severely reduce life expectancy and the eventual outcome. This may be due to the patient not being referred to a specialist at an early stage for vital testing.
If you, or a loved one, have suffered as result of a failure to diagnose and this has resulted in a delay in your treatment, un-necessary pain, loss and suffering, or further deterioration in your health, you may be eligible for compensation.
Call us now on 0845 644 5135 to discuss your concerns with our registered general nurse. All potential claims are then passed onto our expert panel of medical negligence solicitors who can maximise the compensation that you receive and provide you with free legal advice on making a claim on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, where you will receive 100% of the compensation awarded.
