Respected New York Litigators Help Clients Sue for Failure to Diagnose

Experienced New York City lawyers represent victims of medical malpractice

A vital aspect of a medical practitioner’s job is correctly diagnosing a patient. Correct diagnosis allows doctors to prescribe proper treatment and address the patient’s condition properly. When a physician fails to diagnose the patient’s condition properly, the result can be severe harm, or even death. At Rich & Rich, P.C., our New York lawyers can help you determine whether evidence exists to pursue a failure to diagnose lawsuit. If lack of adherence to accepted medical standards resulted in a harmful failure to diagnose, there may be grounds for legal relief.

Skilled attorneys recognize common illnesses in failure to diagnose cases

When doctors diagnose cancer early, the patient has a much better prognosis for recovery. Delayed treatment or a lack of treatment allows cancer to spread to other parts of the body, often resulting in death. This is true with all types of cancer, including:

  • Breast cancer
  • Lung cancer
  • Prostate cancer
  • Colon cancer
  • Cervical cancer
  • Melanoma (skin cancer)
  • Bladder cancer

If your cancer was not identified promptly and it worsened due to delayed diagnosis, Rich & Rich can help you pursue damages.

Aggressive lawyers seek evidence of common reasons for failure to diagnose

Diagnostic errors result from individual mistakes as well as system breakdowns. Some common reasons doctors miss signs of underlying illness include:

  • Failure to order proper diagnostic tests
  • Incorrect interpretation of diagnostic tests
  • Failure to perform an adequate physical examination
  • Failure to recognize risk factors
  • Failure to recognize symptoms
  • Failure to document symptoms
  • Doctor inexperience
  • Insufficient time with patient
  • Patient sees multiple doctors or specialists who do not coordinate care

A doctor who fails to order appropriate medical tests may prevent a life-saving diagnosis. A doctor who insists on treating a patient whose symptoms are outside their scope of knowledge may be negligent for failure to refer the patient to an appropriate medical specialist.

By finding what went wrong, we can build a case proving medical malpractice.

Experienced attorneys explain misdiagnosis vs. failure to diagnose

Failure to diagnose involves a doctor issuing no diagnosis, whereas misdiagnosis involves a doctor who issues an incorrect diagnosis.

In some cases, misdiagnosis is more harmful than failure to diagnose. A patient who receives a misdiagnosis may:

  • Permit the underlying disease to progress unabated and cause severe injury or death
  • Take unnecessary medication with harsh side effects

We represent victims of misdiagnosis as well as failure to diagnose.

Contact an experienced New York medical malpractice attorney

With offices in New York City and Long Island, the attorneys of Rich & Rich, P.C. litigate failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis medical malpractice cases. For a consultation, call 212-406-0440 or contact us online.