How Missed Lab Results Can Lead to a Patient’s Death

A correct and timely diagnosis is the key to effective medical treatment. Unfortunately, missed diagnoses are among the most common forms of negligence in medical malpractice claims. Sometimes a provider misses the correct diagnosis due to overlooked or misinterpreted lab results. In the worst cases, the lack of timely, appropriate treatment due to missed lab results causes the patient’s death.

Examples of Illnesses That May Be Missed In Lab Tests

Lab tests such as blood panels, urinalysis, comprehensive metabolic panels, infectious disease tests, autoimmune tests, and genetic testing are crucial tools for reaching a correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment. An oversight when interpreting lab test results can cause the following:

• More advanced stage cancer due to missing early markers of stage 1 cancer in the biopsy results
• Missed infections leading to deadly sepsis
• Missed troponin in lab results, indicating a cardiac event
• Embolisms
• Neurological conditions

Delayed diagnosis of critical conditions, such as the above, can result in worsened medical condition, shortened life expectancy, and death.

Common Causes of Missed Lab Test Results

Missing key indicators of disease in lab results may be due to the medical provider overlooking an important indicator or to a lab error. Common causes of missed lab test results include the following:

• Mislabeled specimens
• Faulty lab equipment
• Incorrect interpretation by the doctor
• Miscommunication between the lab and the doctor or medical team
• Ignoring “normal ranges” when reading a result
• Reporting delays from the lab to the provider
• Failure to follow up with the patient or failure to inform

Unfortunately, when a medical provider fails to follow up or inform a patient of concerning lab results, the patient often believes the tests were normal and no cause for concern, allowing the disease or condition to progress, sometimes leading to death.

Who Is at Fault for Missed Lab Results?

It’s easy to blame the physician for missing crucial lab results, and often this type of medical malpractice occurs due to the doctor’s misinterpretation of lab tests or failure to inform the patient, leaving the doctor at fault. However, those sometimes found liable in medical malpractice claims for missed lab results include the following:

• The doctor
• The laboratory
• Hospital administrators for failing to properly train or for hiring failures
• The manufacturer of faulty lab equipment or chemicals

Under Arizona 12-25-05, the law of comparative negligence, multiple entities can be held liable for the damages.

Proving Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death In Arizona

If you lost a loved one due to a medical error, such as missed lab results, you may not be able to bring the loved one back, but you can bring them a voice for justice through financial accountability. When medical malpractice causes the patient’s death, the claim becomes a medical malpractice-wrongful death claim. In Arizona, a surviving spouse, parent, child, or the representative of a decedent’s estate may file a wrongful death claim.

Proving medical malpractice wrongful death requires evidence that meets the following legal standards of malpractice liability:

• A doctor/patient relationship was in place when the malpractice occurred
• The doctor/lab/or medical provider owed a legal duty of care to the patient, requiring them to treat the patient at the standard of care accepted by the medical community
• They breached this duty of care through negligence
• The breach of duty directly caused the patient’s injury
• The injury victim (or the decedent’s family in wrongful death claims) suffered damages from the injury

Recoverable damages in medical malpractice wrongful death cases involving missed lab results include reimbursement for medical expenses, funeral/burial costs, the family member’s lost wages, the decedent’s lifelong lost income, and compensation for emotional damages, such as grief, anguish, and loss of companionship and consortium or loss of support and guidance.

Contact an Arizona Medical Malpractice Attorney From Knapp & Roberts

Medical malpractice wrongful death cases are complex, requiring substantial evidence and careful attention to filing details and deadlines. Malpractice insurance companies are powerful and more than willing to deny or devalue claims. Call or contact Knapp & Roberts online to learn more about the Arizona civil court’s laws for justice through compensation after a missed lab result causes death.