Medical Malpractice Lawyer Serving Vermont

The failure to timely diagnose a medical condition is a frequent basis for a medical malpractice claim. Although this frequently occurs in the emergency room setting, it could also happen in an office or inpatient setting. When a failure to timely diagnose and treat a patient’s condition occurs and it results in a significant injury or worsening of some medical condition, an experienced medical malpractice attorney should be consulted as soon as possible.

One of the most basic types of medical malpractice claims, involving the failure to diagnose, occurs when a doctor, nurse, or other medical provider fails to obtain sufficient information about the patient’s medical history, the circumstances that led the patient to come in for treatment, and/or properly document that information. Sometimes this type of medical malpractice occurs when the patient is not questioned sufficiently or thoroughly. Other times, medical malpractice occurs when family members or friends with specific and essential knowledge are available, but are either not questioned at all or not asked about the relevant knowledge that they possess. Medical malpractice, involving the failure to diagnose, can also occur when doctors fail to obtain and/or review relevant medical records.

More often, the failure to diagnose a patient accurately and/or promptly is the result of the failure to order appropriate diagnostic testing, which should have been timely ordered/or by failing to properly and thoroughly examine the patient. Failure to diagnose can also occur by the failure to get a timely consultation from a specialist, or failing to provide sufficient or accurate information to a specialist who is consulted. Often, medical malpractice occurs when more than one of these failures occurs. The failure to diagnose and the resultant failure to timely treat a condition frequently involves cancer, stroke, and heart disease. However, they can involve less prevalent conditions such as spinal lesions, which have the potential to render a patient a paraplegic or even a quadriplegic.

David has successfully handled medical malpractice cases involving these aspects of a failure to diagnose.