A medical misdiagnosis can significantly impact your physical and emotional well-being. When injuries or illnesses are misdiagnosed, necessary treatment can be delayed, causing the condition to worsen. And a diagnosis of a condition you don’t have can cause stress for you and your family and may result in unnecessary treatment.
If a medical provider in Nassau or Suffolk County misdiagnosed your condition, causing harm, our medical malpractice attorney can help you seek compensation. Contact Dell & Dean, PLLC for a free consultation about your case. We’ll review the misdiagnosis and its effects, explain your options, and walk you through what to expect from the legal process.
How Do Medical Misdiagnoses Occur?
Medical misdiagnoses occur when doctors fail to recognize patient symptoms, misinterpret diagnostic test results, or attribute symptoms to the wrong condition. All of these failures can have lasting negative effects on the patient, especially if their condition is severe.
For example, a doctor may misdiagnose a patient with a relatively mild condition based on several key symptoms when, in reality, their symptoms are caused by cancer. This can occur if the doctor fails to screen for the particular type of cancer because they believe the patient is too young to be at risk. This misdiagnosis can then allow the cancer to spread, resulting in more harm.
Medical Misdiagnosis Cases We Handle in Nassau and Suffolk County
Our New York medical malpractice lawyers handle various types of misdiagnosis cases in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Some of the most common misdiagnoses we help clients seek compensation for are:
- Cancer
- Appendicitis
- Infections
- Stroke
- Heart attacks
- Bleeding brain injuries
- Complex regional pain syndrome
- Meningitis and encephalitis
- Peritonitis
- Pulmonary embolism
- Sepsis
- Diabetes
Cancer Diagnosis
Misdiagnosing cancer can have a severe impact on a patient’s prognosis, as the earlier the cancer is diagnosed, the better a patient’s chances of beating it will be. Once the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, treatment can be less effective, and patients can become ineligible for certain treatments that may have worked earlier.
Additionally, being misdiagnosed with cancer can cause extreme and unnecessary stress for a patient and their family, as well as potentially harmful, unnecessary treatments. When dealing with any cancer diagnosis, it’s always a good idea to get a second opinion.
Heart Attack and Stroke Diagnosis
Patients experiencing heart attacks and strokes require immediate medical attention. If their condition is misdiagnosed as something else and they don’t receive the treatment they need, it can result in permanent disability or death.
One possible reason these conditions are misdiagnosed is that patients don’t always recognize the severity of their symptoms. This is why medical professionals must not only listen to what patients say about how they’re feeling but also run additional tests to rule out medical emergencies.
The Benefits of Working with a Skilled Attorney
When seeking compensation for your medical misdiagnosis, it’s crucial that you work with a skilled attorney who has handled cases similar to yours before.
An experienced medical misdiagnosis attorney will thoroughly investigate your case to identify the parties responsible and gather the evidence needed to hold them financially liable. They’ll also engage in settlement negotiations with the liable party’s insurance company and take your case to trial if the insurer refuses to offer a fair settlement covering all of your losses.
Damages You Can Pursue in New York
The compensation you can pursue in a New York medical misdiagnosis case includes both economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages compensate you for your losses with tangible value. They include things like past and future medical expenses, including the cost of additional treatment required because of the misdiagnosis, lost wages, and loss of future earning capacity caused by your worsened condition.
Non-economic damages compensate you for your losses with intangible value. They include things like the pain and suffering you experienced because of your delayed or unnecessary treatment, the mental anguish caused by the misdiagnosis, and the impact your worsened injuries have on your quality of life.
Proving a Medical Misdiagnosis
Proving that a medical misdiagnosis occurred and that it worsened your condition or caused other physical or psychological injuries can be tricky without an experienced malpractice lawyer. It involves gathering several types of key evidence, including:
- Your medical records detailing the symptoms you sought treatment for and the diagnosis you received
- The expert testimony of a medical professional who can explain where the provider who misdiagnosed your condition made an error
- Evidence of how the misdiagnosis caused further injury, such as complications that arose because of delayed medical care or unnecessary medical treatment you underwent
Due to the medical evidence involved, misdiagnosis cases are often more complex than other types of personal injury cases, which is why it’s crucial to choose the right attorney.
How Much Compensation Can You Obtain for Medical Misdiagnosis?
The amount you could receive through a medical misdiagnosis case depends on many factors, including the severity of the misdiagnosis, the additional medical treatment you require, and the lasting impact your condition causes due to the delay in your treatment.
These cases can result in settlements or trial awards from tens of thousands to millions of dollars. For a significant misdiagnosis, such as a misdiagnosed stroke that causes permanent physical and cognitive disability or death, the compensation could be in the hundreds of thousands or millions.
You need to speak with an experienced medical malpractice attorney to get a better idea of what your particular case could be worth.
Schedule a Free Case Evaluation with Our Medical Malpractice Attorney
If you are the victim of medical misdiagnosis in Nassau or Suffolk County, contact Dell & Dean, PLLC, for a free consultation about your case with our knowledgeable and experienced New York medical malpractice attorney. During your initial consultation, we’ll review your medical condition, the misdiagnosis, and its impact on your life. We’ll also explain your options for seeking compensation and walk you through what to expect from your case.
