When you are experiencing symptoms that cause you to schedule a visit to your doctor, you have every right to expect that they will:
- Review your medical history;
- Listen carefully to your description of what you’re experiencing;
- Order the appropriate tests or imaging; and
- Send you to a specialist when required.
You trust that your doctor will understand the meaning of your symptoms and consider every diagnosis that could be consistent with them, then take the steps needed to either confirm or eliminate each possibility until an accurate diagnosis is found. If your doctor gives you a clean bill of health, you should feel confident that you are well and need to do nothing further.
Although it is reasonable for you to expect a thorough workup of your symptoms that lead to a correct diagnosis, your doctor may fall short of your expectation. If a doctor ignores your complaints, attributes them to something minor, or doesn’t appear to be focused on what you’re reporting, you could become a victim of a missed or incorrect diagnosis.
If your doctor has failed to diagnose your condition properly and it worsens, progressing to a stage where it is more difficult to treat successfully or gravely damaging your health, you might have a claim for medical malpractice. An experienced Arizona failure to diagnose attorney can work with you to prove that your doctor was negligent and failed to deliver you the appropriate standard of care due in your medical treatment.
Why Choose Knapp & Roberts for Your Malpractice Claim?
At Knapp & Roberts, our team of legal professionals works with victims of misdiagnosed and undiagnosed medical conditions to hold negligent healthcare providers responsible for their mistakes. Our failure to diagnose attorneys fight for the legal right of patients to receive compensation for losses associated with medical malpractice as no one should pay out of pocket for the wrongdoing of another.
If you suspect your healthcare provider failed to diagnose your condition, talk to one of our trustworthy medical malpractice attorneys. We will provide you with an accurate evaluation of your claim and practical advice regarding the best legal steps to take in proceeding with any action. Not all medical mistakes qualify for a lawsuit, so do not invest yourself in a legal claim without speaking to Knapp & Roberts.
Knapp & Roberts’s failure to diagnose attorneys are:
- Highly experienced in all areas of medical malpractice attorneys and personal injury law;
- Accomplished and successful in pursuing large insurance companies and the medical establishment; and
- Compassionate advocates for patients who suffer unnecessarily at the hands of negligent physicians and other medical providers.
Reach out to our Phoenix office today to discuss our failure to diagnose claim. Your initial consultation is risk-free and at no cost to you, so do not delay.
How a Phoenix Failure to Diagnose Attorney Can Help
While doctors and other healthcare professionals generally have good intentions, mistakes happen. Unfortunately, in medical care, even the slightest misstep can lead to serious or fatal consequences for a patient. Therefore, providers must be held to a high standard when providing patient care and services.
Proving a failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis claim can be an uphill battle but do not despair. Knapp & Roberts will stand beside you every step of the way. Our misdiagnosis attorneys in Phoenix will take on your legal burden so that you can focus on recovering your health.
At Knapp & Roberts, we represent you on a contingency fee basis. This means that we cover the costs of your legal suit upfront. You will not have to worry about out-of-pocket expenses to start and maintain your case regardless of the time it takes to settle or end your case at trial.
Our firm will do the following and more on your behalf:
- Investigate the circumstances surrounding your injury;
- Determine the cause of your injury and any liable parties;
- Retain and work closely with medical experts to build your case;
- Assess your total losses, including future medical and living expenses;
- Demand total compensation from any insurance companies and healthcare professionals;
- Negotiate your claim with any liable parties; and
- When needed, take your claim to court before a judge and jury.
While most medical malpractice claims settle out of court, Knapp & Roberts will move ahead with courtroom litigation when a trial is appropriate.
Failure to diagnose claims are complex and require a legal team time to compile. Start your case today by calling Knapp & Roberts in Phoenix.
What is Failure to Diagnose?
Failure to diagnose is when a doctor or another healthcare provider fails to recognize symptoms that indicate a severe medical condition. Failure to diagnosis typically refers to a medical mistake that leaves a potentially fatal disease or condition untreated. There are an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 deaths each year resulting from misdiagnosis in the United States.
Failure to diagnose may include:
- Not referring a patient to a specialist;
- Misinterpreting lab results;
- Failing to investigate a potential cause of reported symptoms;
- Not consulting with a patient regarding their symptoms; and
- Failing to screen for particular medical conditions.
There are certain conditions doctors fail to diagnose or misdiagnose more often than others. These include, but are not limited to:
- Asthma;
- Breast cancer;
- Colon cancer;
- Lung cancer;
- Melanoma;
- Heart attack;
- Lymph node inflammation;
- Meningitis;
- Fracture; and
- Fetal distress.
Common Medical Misdiagnoses
Misdiagnosis of a medical condition is when a physician mistakes one medical occurrence or disease for another.
Some frequently occurring medical misdiagnoses are as follows:
- Heart attack misdiagnosed as indigestion, gallstones, anxiety, or muscle strain;
- Stroke misdiagnosed as vertigo;
- Appendicitis misdiagnosed as gastroenteritis;
- Pulmonary embolism misdiagnosed as high blood pressure or heart attack;
- Meningitis misdiagnosed as seasonal flu, neck muscle strain, migraine, or tension headache;
- Ovarian or uterine cancer misdiagnosed as endometriosis or fibroids;
- Colorectal cancer misdiagnosed as INS (irritable bowel syndrome); and
- Breast cancer misdiagnosed as polycystic breast disease.
When is Failure to Diagnose Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a diagnosis or treatment received does not meet the standard of care recognized by the Arizona medical community. Standard of care (or standard of practice) means what a reasonably competent doctor in the same practice area would do under the same or similar circumstances for the same or similar patient.
Misdiagnosis cases are challenging to prove, and a diagnostic error is not always evidence of malpractice. These cases require an experienced failure to diagnose attorney who understands Arizona law regarding medical malpractice and the standard of care expected by the state’s medical community.
Proving Malpractice in a Failure to Diagnosis or Misdiagnosis Claim
Recovering compensation in a failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis claim requires an attorney to prove the following:
- There was a doctor-patient relationship establishing a duty to provide the standard of care that would be expected of any reasonably competent physician in the same practice area or specialty;
- That the doctor fell short of that standard of care by failing to do everything a reasonably competent physician would know to do to diagnose the problem correctly and promptly;
- That the doctor’s breach of that standard of care caused the patient’s health significant harm; and
- That the patient suffered demonstrable damages.
There must be proof that the doctor’s failure to diagnose the problem correctly was the direct cause of the damage to the patient’s health, and the outcome would have been different if the problem had been diagnosed accurately and promptly. If the doctor ordered all the appropriate tests and screenings but the results didn’t point to the proper diagnosis, the patient may not be able to prove malpractice.
If your doctor neglected to do something that should have been done, but the patient was not harmed, the patient will not have a case. There might not be a case if the patient did not mention certain symptoms, provide an accurate medical history, or honestly answer questions posed by the doctor.
Compensation Available in a Phoenix Failure to Diagnose Claim
Damages in a medical malpractice case or another personal injury case are meant to put the victim in the position they would have been in had the accident never occurred. While no amount of money can truly achieve this goal, victims of successful failure to diagnose claims receive money for economic and non-economic losses associated with their injury.
Economic losses have specific dollar amounts or can be easily calculated. Non-economic losses are those without dollar amounts. These are subjective and personal to the victim.
The amount of money received is commensurate with the severity of injuries, prognosis for recovery, and accumulated and prospective losses. It is impossible to estimate the value of a failure to diagnose claim without a thorough assessment of a case by a medical malpractice attorney.
However, patients will usually receive the following types of economic damages:
- Medical bills and surgical costs, both current and future;
- Prescription fees;
- Nursing or long-term care costs;
- Physical or occupational therapy costs;
- Lost wages;
- Loss of earning potential;
- Psychological counseling fees; and
- Costs for modifications to a home or vehicle.
Non-economic damages may include:
- Pain and suffering;
- Loss of enjoyment of life;
- Mental and emotional anguish;
- Loss of consortium; and
- Disfigurement.
There is another category of damages that may only be awarded by the court. These are punitive damages. Punitive damages are meant to punish a defendant for their acts, not necessarily to compensate the victim. In Arizona, punitive damages require proving by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant’s conduct was reprehensible and that the defendant acted with an evil hand.
In Arizona, there is no limit on the amount of damages that may be awarded in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Statute of Limitations to File a Failure to Diagnose Claim in Phoenix
Arizona has a deadline or statute of limitations by which a patient must file their failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis claim. This is two years from the date of the procedure that injured or worsened a patient’s condition.
The statute of limitations might be extended if a patient’s injury or condition was not immediately apparent. In this situation, the statute of limitations would begin on the date on which the injury or condition is discovered or should have been discovered through exercising reasonable care.
Always consult an experienced Arizona medical malpractice attorney to verify the statute of limitations for a specific case.
Immunity from Medical Malpractice Claims in Phoenix
Arizona limits the ability of a patient to bring a medical malpractice claim against a health maintenance organization (HMO). Patients cannot pursue damages for pain and suffering against an HMO and may only sue for economic damages in federal court.
In addition, Arizona will not hold a healthcare provider responsible for a patient’s injury under the following circumstances:
- The provider failed to comply with a decision or a direction that violated the provider’s conscience if the provider promptly made known their unwillingness and promptly transferred the responsibility for the patient’s care to another provider who was willing to act in accordance with the agent’s direction;
- The provider failed to consult a patient with a disability or incapacitated patient’s surrogate if the surrogate was unable to be contacted after the health care provider made a reasonable effort to do so or if an emergency situation existed that did not provide the health care provider with sufficient time to locate and consult with the surrogate; or
- The provider relied on a court order concerning a patient.
For more information about legal claims against HMOs, reach out to an experienced medical malpractice attorney in Arizona.
Choosing a Phoenix Area Medical Malpractice Attorney
Choosing an expereinced medical malpractice attorney for your failure to diagnose case can be a difficult undertaking. You need a team of legal experts who will build a solid failure to diagnose claim on your behalf while keeping you informed of your case as it progresses.
In your initial consultation with a medical malpractice attorney, it is imperative you ask questions and conduct a thorough interview of your potential counsel. Find out about your attorney’s medical malpractice knowledge and experience. Ask if they have handled cases similar to your own and about case outcomes.
Find out about the law firm’s fee structure. Read any contingency agreement before signing. Be sure you understand if there are expenses for which you may be liable.
Decide if you will be able to work with your chosen attorney. You will need to be able to communicate with your attorney and share information regularly.
Consult a Failure to Diagnose or Misdiagnosis Attorney in the Phoenix Area Today
If you or your loved one suffered damages due to a diagnostic error, contact the medical malpractice professionals at Knapp & Roberts. We will review your case and advise you if you have a legal claim for damages against your healthcare provider.
Knapp & Roberts will work with you to:
- Force the negligent doctor to take responsibility for the harm done; and
- Get you the money you deserve.
Knapp & Roberts offers quality legal representation from accredited medical malpractice attorneys. Call us in Phoenix today to protect your right to recovery.