Fighting for justice and compensation when a misdiagnosis leads to serious injury or death in Tampa

A diagnosis is an essential part of medical care. A proper diagnosis is critical to understanding your options, making an informed decision, and getting the best treatment for your condition. Conversely, a wrong diagnosis, or a diagnosis that is missed or unreasonably delayed, can be disastrous. 

Despite the critical role diagnosis plays in delivering effective medical care, missed, delayed, or wrong diagnoses are suspected to occur about 11% of the time, with a significant number of these errors resulting in permanent disability or death. 

The experienced Tampa medical malpractice lawyers at Palmer Lopez help victims of diagnostic errors recover compensation from the doctors and hospitals responsible for the serious harm caused by their medical mistakes.

Learn how we can assist with your claim by scheduling a free consultation.

How common is a false diagnosis?

According to a 2023 study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal BMJ Quality & Safety, an estimated 795,000 Americans suffer permanent disability or death every year due to a wrong diagnosis. 

What medical conditions are misdiagnosed the most?

Of these, the top 5 misdiagnosed diseases, which included stroke, sepsis, pneumonia, venous thromboembolism, and lung cancer, accounted for about 38.7% of cases of serious harm resulting from diagnostic errors. 

What is the most common reason for misdiagnosis?

In most cases, the high number of diagnostic errors is not due to the presence of rare or uncommon diseases that are missed because the doctor is unfamiliar with them. Instead, a study published in the National Academies Press found that the main reasons behind adverse diagnostic events stemmed from 2 main factors:

• Knowledge-based errors (where physicians lacked adequate knowledge or applied what they knew incorrectly) 
• Failures in information transfer (where physicians were not updated with the latest patient information)

More often than not, it’s quite simply incompetence or negligence on the part of doctors, nurses, radiologists, and other medical professionals that leads to the misdiagnosis of common yet serious and life-threatening disorders and diseases. 

What are the consequences of wrong diagnosis?

The most severe consequence of diagnostic errors is delayed treatment that ultimately leads to death. Chief among the most serious diagnostic errors we see in our practice are the missed diagnoses of cancer and sepsis.

Missed diagnosis of cancer

Some of the most common cancer misdiagnoses include lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and colon cancer. Like many cancers, all of these cancers are treatable and curable if detected early. However, if they’re allowed to grow and metastasize because of a delay in diagnosis or a missed diagnosis, they quickly become incurable and deadly, or terminal. 

Malpractice claims concerning a missed diagnosis of cancer frequently center around this “lost chance” to successfully treat a deadly disease at an earlier stage. Strangely enough, cancer diagnoses are frequently missed even when the doctors have ordered CT scans, chest X-rays, colonoscopies, or other appropriate tests. 

With so much at stake, it is imperative that doctors, radiologists, and lab technicians perform tests correctly and take the time to interpret them correctly. Arriving at a correct diagnosis may require consulting with other practitioners in different fields to confirm or rule out a cancer diagnosis based on testing, the patient’s symptoms, and other factors.

Missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis of sepsis

Sepsis is a critical and potentially fatal condition triggered when the body’s defense against an infection spirals out of control, causing damage to its own tissues and organs. It can progress rapidly, leading to systemic inflammation, organ failure, and, in severe cases, septic shock, which is characterized by plummeting blood pressure and a high mortality rate. 

Prompt recognition and treatment are critical for improving outcomes in septic patients. However, a diagnosis of sepsis is often missed because doctors mistake the signs as symptoms for another disorder. 

Laboratory tests play a crucial role in confirming the diagnosis of sepsis and may include: 

• Blood cultures to identify bacteria or other pathogens
• Blood tests to check for elevated white blood cell count or markers of inflammation (such as C-reactive protein or procalcitonin)
• Kidney and liver function tests
• Tests to assess clotting problems

Imaging studies, like X-rays, CT scans, or ultrasounds, may be used to locate an infection source.

Hospitals and HMOs may put undue pressure on doctors and nurses to push through their rounds and appointments as quickly as possible, with the result being the failure to diagnose a serious disease or condition before it has progressed to a dangerous stage. 

When hospital negligence contributes to a misdiagnosis or when HMOs turn down necessary tests as a cost-containment measure, they can be held liable for all of the harm caused by their negligence.

Can you sue a doctor for misdiagnosis?

Yes, you can sue a doctor through a misdiagnosis lawsuit if you can prove that the diagnostic error led to incorrect treatment, delayed treatment, or no treatment at all, which then caused your condition to worsen or resulted in a new injury. This legal action would fall under medical malpractice.

How can I prove I was misdiagnosed?

A successful diagnostic error case requires proving that the doctor failed to follow best diagnostic practices and also that the patient would have had a better outcome if the condition had been correctly diagnosed in a timely manner. 

This can be a challenging claim to prove. It requires an attorney who can gather medical evidence and expert testimony and then break this information down and communicate it to a judge or jury in a compelling fashion. 

If the court sides with the injured patient, they may be entitled to substantial compensation to cover damages, including: 

• Medical expenses, both past and future, that were incurred due to the misdiagnosis
• Lost wages if the misdiagnosis resulted in an inability to work
• Pain and suffering experienced as a result of the diagnostic error
• Punitive damages if it’s found that the healthcare provider acted with gross negligence 

Additionally, in tragic circumstances where the misdiagnosis leads to the death of a patient, the surviving family members may be entitled to wrongful death damages, which can include compensation for loss of companionship and support as well as funeral and burial expenses. 

The aim of the compensation is to restore, as much as possible, the health and financial position the patient would have been in had the misdiagnosis not occurred. 

Our attorneys hold Tampa doctors and hospitals accountable for serious diagnostic errors

Navigating the complexities of diagnostic error cases requires a knowledgeable and experienced attorney who understands the intricacies of medical malpractice law and can advocate effectively for the patient’s rights and best interests.

At Palmer Lopez, our attorneys have more than 35 years of combined experience in personal injury and medical malpractice law. We know what it takes to bring a successful case and work hard to get the best result for our clients every single time.

If you believe that a missed diagnosis or other serious diagnostic error was committed in your case, contact Palmer Lopez today to schedule a free consultation with our team of skilled Tampa diagnostic error lawyers. 

We will help you uncover the truth about your illness or injury so you can get the justice and compensation you need and deserve.