The time of diagnosis is critical to patient outcomes in many cases. Cancer and many other diseases respond best to treatment when detected early.
Talk to a Kissimmee delayed diagnosis lawyer if you believe a medical professional did not recognize a serious condition as soon as they should have. Other Central Florida law firms recommend Colling Gilbert Wright to their loved ones and clients for steadfast, effective representation in medical malpractice cases. Our attorneys have decades of experience and numerous large verdicts and settlements to back up our excellent reputation in this area of law.
What Is a Delayed Diagnosis?
Whenever a medical professional misses an opportunity to correctly diagnose a disease or condition, there has been a delayed diagnosis. Sometimes the medical professional diagnoses one condition when you actually had something else. In other cases, they miss signs of disease altogether, and the condition remains undetected and untreated for some period of time.
There are numerous ways a healthcare professional could make a mistake that results in a delayed diagnosis. Some of the more common cases involve:
- Failing to take a thorough medical history
- Not considering an aspect of a patient’s history that could have led to the correct diagnosis
- Failing to order the appropriate diagnostic tests
- Misinterpreting test results
- Discounting certain symptoms or complaints
- Failing to make a referral to a specialist when appropriate
Assuming a patient’s complaints are psychological rather than physical is another common way doctors can delay a correct diagnosis.
Some diseases are very tricky to diagnose, either because the clues are subtle or the symptoms mimic other, more common conditions. Not every mistaken or delayed diagnosis can form the legal basis of a malpractice suit. The Florida Firm’s Kissimmee attorneys can review your medical record to determine whether your medical professional was negligent in failing to diagnose your condition promptly.
Establishing the Elements of a Medical Malpractice Case
When you are considering bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit, there are several legal elements you must meet to have a viable case.
Provider/ Patient Relationship
There must be a professional relationship between you and the healthcare professional you are considering suing. If you met with the practitioner at a medical facility or their office to obtain medical advice, you have a doctor-patient relationship with that professional. If your doctor friend gave you an opinion about your condition while you were playing golf, no professional relationship is established.
Failure to Meet the Standard of Care
The second critical element is that the care you received must have fallen below the standard a reasonable, similarly trained healthcare professional would have provided in the same circumstances. Before a Kissimmee lawyer can file a malpractice lawsuit, we must obtain an opinion from a medical expert stating that the delayed diagnosis did not meet the appropriate standard of care.
In practice, this means that if your healthcare provider took all the reasonable steps to identify your disease in a timely fashion, they may not be liable for medical malpractice even if there was a delay in reaching a correct diagnosis. If any diligent provider could have obtained the same result and there is no clear example of negligence, there is no basis for a malpractice lawsuit.
Actual Harm
You must have suffered actual harm due to the delayed diagnosis. Fewer treatment options, unnecessary physical and mental suffering, and shortened lifespan are all examples of actual harm. However, a greater likelihood of a negative consequence in the future does not constitute actual harm.
Within the Legal Timeframes
The final requirement for a malpractice lawsuit is that you must file it within legal time limits. Florida Statutes § 95.11(4)(c) requires you to bring a lawsuit within two years of learning that a healthcare provider did not diagnose you correctly. However, you cannot bring a lawsuit more than four years after the mistake, regardless of when you discovered it.
Talk to a Kissimmee Attorney If You Were Harmed by a Delayed Diagnosis
Call a Kissimmee delayed diagnosis lawyer at The Florida Firm if you believe a healthcare provider negligently failed to diagnose you in a timely manner. Our attorneys have achieved multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts in several delayed diagnosis cases.
You risk nothing by contacting us, because we do not charge fees or expenses unless and until we reach a favorable result in your case. Set up a free consultation with our medical malpractice intake team today.