Misdiagnosis Cases in Maryland

If you believe you may have been misdiagnosed at a hospital or other medical facility the following is what you should know about medical malpractice claims. To learn more about filing a claim for misdiagnosis or another type of medical malpractice schedule a free consultation as soon as possible with a Maryland medical malpractice lawyer.

What Does The Phrase Misdiagnosis Mean in Medical Malpractice Claims?

Well, there’s essentially two areas for misdiagnosis. A misdiagnosis could one mean the doctor has examined someone and they have come to the wrong conclusion based on the evidence that they had at that time. Or two, they’ve failed to diagnose something entirely that had they employed the proper expertise would have been able to properly diagnose the patient.

So by failing to diagnose something with the evidence available and by misdiagnosing something, in essence, the doctor got to the wrong conclusion or didn’t get to the right conclusion. And whether the doctor should have ordered more test or different tests, or monitored the patient more closely, those all fall within the ambit of misdiagnosis.

Does Misdiagnosis Mean That The Doctor Made a Mistake?

Well, for example, one of the most common misdiagnoses are if someone had a growth on a part of their body such as a growth on their lungs, and if the doctor’s x-ray saw that and they failed to monitor or they failed to order more comprehensive tests.

And after periods of time, that growth has gotten larger. And then essentially, after biopsy the growth was revealed to be cancerous, there could be a potential claim against the doctor for failing to diagnose the growth as a potentially cancerous tumor.

What Are The Most Common Forms of Misdiagnosis?

Well, the most common form is the situation I just described in that failure to diagnose a growth or failure to diagnose a disease or the symptoms of a disease that then lead to the full blown disease that caused the harm to the person and even death.

So those are the most common types; failure to diagnose disease or a symptom of the disease, typically a growth, or a virus like HIV or AIDS. It can also include any other kind of virus or disease.