QUESTION
If a misdiagnoses is given to a patient and further medical issues arise is that considered medical malpractice? and how can i purse such action?
Asked on Jul 01st, 2016 on Medical Malpractice - Pennsylvania
More details to this question:
I checked myself into an emergency room for a large knot on my face that started as a pimple. upon review by the doctor it was told to me it was a multi-headed pimple was given some antibotics and told it would go away. A few months later i had a flare up in a new location I treated that area with simple care. now just a few days ago i had a major flare up in a new location on my neck and back. all three incidents all had the same formation. A few days ago when i went to the ER i was told he most likely thought it was MRSA. He gave me antibiotics. The discharge paperwork has no mention of MRSA. The paperwork acts like it is just an open wound which it is far from. Other things happened on both of these ER trips but there isn't enough room to tell all. I feel that if the diagnosis was given properly on my first visit all these other occasions wouldn't be happening.
1 ANSWER
Personal Injury Attorney serving Harrisburg, PA
at
Schmidt Kramer Injury Lawyers
Update Your Profile
A misdiagnosis is a classic example of malpractice. The other common ones are surgical error and a failure to properly communicate with patients or other healthcare providers. That being said, every misdiagnosis is not malpractice and and every occurence of malpractice does not necessarily lead to a malpractice lawsuit. For a misdiagnosis to be malpractice, we look for a failure somewhere in the diagnostic process, such as not running appropriate tests to rule out more serious conditions before deciding that the symptoms are caused by something that is not seriious. It sounds like that may have happened in your case.
The second thing that we look for when considering to bring a malpractice lawsuit is catastrophic damages. Malpractice lawsuits are very costly, so malpractice by a doctor results in a viable lawsuit only when it leads to a very serious injury. I would not want to go through what you are having to deal with, but based on what you wrote, I don't think that the damages will be large enough for my office to look into your case. You can always speak to another lawyer to get a second opinion. Please remember that Pennsylvania has a two year statute of limitations, so you should not wait before speaking to another lawyer.
Thank you,
Daryl
Answered on Jul 05th, 2016 at 7:36 AM