Failure to Diagnose, Monitor or Treat

Medical malpractice can occur in many different ways. Health care providers go through years of education and practice in order to diagnose, monitor, and treat sick or injured patients. However, in spite of this, they do make mistakes. A doctor may fail to diagnose cancer. A doctor may fail to follow up or treat a patient who is suffering a heart attack. If a health care provider's failure to diagnose, monitor, or treat you results in your injuries, you should consult an experienced Syracuse misdiagnosis lawyer.

When a doctor fails to diagnose, monitor, or treat someone with a medical condition, it may be medical malpractice. The relevant issues are whether the failure fell below the professional standard of care and whether it caused harm to the patient. For example, a doctor who fails to properly perform appropriate medical tests or fails to assess a patient's condition may have committed medical malpractice. Similarly, a doctor's failure to let a patient know which treatments are available for a condition or a doctor's failure to treat a patient based on lack of insurance or inappropriate insurance may be medical malpractice. For another example, a doctor's failure to perform required medical tests may be medical malpractice. For yet another example, a failure to diagnose a heart attack in the emergency department may be medical malpractice. A misdiagnosis attorney in Syracuse can advise you on whether a certain action may have been malpractice.

The first step when you see a doctor is to provide information and permit a physical exam so that the doctor can diagnose you. Doctors often use differential diagnosis as a tool to decide the cause of a set of symptoms. The doctor notes the symptoms, makes a list of possible diseases, and then tests the listed diseases. They are supposed to conduct tests and rule out possibilities until they determine the true cause of the symptoms and diagnose you. In most cases, the doctor rules out the causes that are life-threatening first.

Sometimes, however, a doctor fails to put a potential diagnosis on the differential diagnosis list or fails to adequately test a correct diagnosis that was listed. A doctor might miss a symptom. There may be a mix-up of records or test results. In other cases, a doctor may simply fail to list a possible diagnosis or fail to follow up on tests conducted to rule out a diagnosis. Sometimes, a doctor may misdiagnose a patient.

Sometimes a doctor adopts a wait-and-see approach but does not monitor or does not monitor properly. For example, a doctor may fail to monitor a patient's heart rate and miss an impending heart attack. For another example, a health care provider may fail to monitor fetal distress during labor and therefore fail to notice that a C-section needs to be immediately performed. If a baby is born with a birth injury as a result of a failure to monitor fetal distress, it may be possible for our Syracuse misdiagnosis attorneys to recover damages.

When a medical problem is left untreated, it may worsen and cause additional injuries to a patient. For example, while certain types of cancer can be treated in the early stages, once the cancer spreads or develops to stage 4, a patient's survival may become much less likely. A delay in treatment can cause irreparable harm to a patient and may even result in death.

Damages that you may be able to recover as a result of a doctor's failure to diagnose, monitor, or treat you include both economic and noneconomic losses. They may include further medical bills, wage loss, replacement services, and pain and suffering.

If you have been harmed as a result of a health care provider's failure to diagnose, monitor, or treat you properly, our law firm may be able to help you recover damages. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents injured patients in Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn, Elmira, Norwich, Cortland, Delhi, Herkimer, Watertown, Lowville, Oneida, Wampsville, Utica, Canandaigua, Oswego, Cooperstown, Ithaca, and Lyons. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.