What You Can Do About Wrong or Late Medical Diagnoses
When a person visits a doctor’s office to check out a medical issue, the tendency is to trust their assessments. What happens however when the doctor fails to diagnose a malady correct or does so much later than is appropriate? While doctors are only human and do make mistakes, there are some circumstances that are a result of simple negligence or ineptitude and these are the cases that create grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
It may be tempting to file for a wrong or late medical diagnosis suit right away, but there are certain criteria that must exist in order to make a case for oneself. The three things that need to be proven are that the two parties do indeed have a doctor-patient relationship, the doctor was negligent in his or her treatment, and that it was that negligence that caused an injury or worsened an existing one.
Negligence can be tricky to prove, but it essentially amounts to the doctor not doing his or her job correctly. Making a mistake is not grounds for a lawsuit in and of itself, as this does happen to even the best doctors, but if it was clear that minimal effort was put into a patient’s case, there is grounds for one. Usually this is the result of insufficient testing, faulty diagnostic equipment, a failure to read test results, particularly obvious ones, and other similar circumstances.
If you or someone you know has had a condition worsened or has had injury caused by a doctor’s negligence, then there is grounds for legal restitution. When beginning a wrong or late medical diagnosis case, it is always a good idea to consult with a lawyer that will grant you the best chance of victory. To learn more about how we at the Franco Firm can serve in this role, please call us at (813) 872-0929.