When you go to the doctor, you trust that your doctor does a diligent job in evaluating your symptoms and diagnosing your medical condition. Because medicine is a complex and specialized field, most patients must trust that their physicians will order the testing and scans necessary to pinpoint what is causing the patient harm and to prescribe the appropriate treatment or follow-up exams. Most doctors do a thorough job of listening to the patients’ symptoms and doing the required follow-up work to properly diagnose an injury or illness. However, when a doctor fails to do the necessary work to provide an appropriate diagnosis for a the patient, the results can be tragic depending on the underlying illness, condition, or disease.
Failure to Treat Patient
There are generally two types of failure to treat medical malpractice claims. One claim involves the doctor failing to treat a serious medical condition because the doctor has failed to properly diagnose the condition and recognize the symptoms. For example, if a patient presents with symptoms of lung cancer and the doctor drastically misinterprets test results, fails to perform the tests that would have detected the cancer, or misdiagnoses the condition, and the delay caused additional medical harm or lowered the chances of the patient beating the cancer, the doctor may be held liable for failure to treat the patient in the appropriate manner.
Delay, failure to treat, or misdiagnosis of the following conditions can cause serious harm to patients. Below are some of the types of misdiagnosis and failure to treat cases we investigate:
Other types of failure to treat negligence claims, relating to a misdiagnosis can include:
A different type of failure to treat claim, but also which constitutes medical malpractice, occurs when the patient is brought to an emergency room or other medical facility in need of immediate care and the patient is denied care by the facility. Hospitals and Emergency rooms have engaged in this practice often when the individual does not have medical insurance and do not want to incur costly medical procedure costs for a patient that they perceive cannot pay. This procedure has been referred to as hospital or emergency room “dumping” because the hospital or emergency room usually attempts to dump the patient on another facility.
Not only is patient dumping morally and ethically wrong, it is also illegal. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal statute which requires any emergency room department to stabilize and treat any individual, regardless of their ability to pay, before discharging them. EMTALA applies to individuals with emergency medical condition including pregnant women with an emergency condition.
If you or a loved one has suffered a seriously injured due to a doctor’s failure to diagnose or treat your illness, contact a Minnesota Medical Malpractice failure to Diagnose Lawyer immediately. Often times after a misdiagnoses, the doctor or medical facility will not openly admit its mistake or its part in the mistake. A medical malpractice lawyer can review your medical history, the doctor’s treatment of the condition, and determine whether the misdiagnosis constituted medical negligence and the basis for a lawsuit to seek compensation for the injuries and medical bills incurred by the patient. Contact us today to set up a free consultation to discuss your case and your questions at (541) 385-1999.
We handle cases throughout Oregon including: Bend, Portland, Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Medford, Deschutes County, Central Oregon, Sisters, Redmond, Lake Oswego, Hillsboro, Multnomah County, Washington County, Hood River, Clackamas County, Oregon City, Jefferson County, Crook County, Coos Bay, Lane County, Douglas County, Yamhill County, Tillamook County, Clatsop, Columbia Klamath, Wasco, Madras, Prineville, Crook, Lane, Pendleton, Umatilla, La Grande and Vancouver, Washington.