If a doctor in Atlanta missed a serious condition, diagnosed the wrong one, or took too long to find the right answer, you may be living with the consequences of a condition that could have been treated sooner. Our Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer can review your records visit by visit and explain whether the delay may have been negligent. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers prepared this guide to explain how diagnostic errors happen and when they may support a claim.
What a Diagnostic Error Is
A diagnostic error is a diagnosis that is missed, delayed, or wrong. It can take several forms:
- Missed diagnosis. The provider does not identify a condition that is present, and the patient leaves without treatment.
- Delayed diagnosis. The condition is eventually found, but later than a reasonably careful provider would have found it.
- Wrong diagnosis. The provider identifies the wrong condition, and the patient receives treatment for a problem they do not have while the real one progresses.
An estimated 795,000 Americans are permanently disabled or die each year because a dangerous disease is misdiagnosed, according to a Johns Hopkins-led study published in BMJ Quality & Safety. Stroke, sepsis, pneumonia, venous thromboembolism, and lung cancer accounted for 38.7% of those serious harms.
How Diagnostic Errors Happen
Diagnostic errors can occur at any point between the first visit and the final result. Common breakdowns include:
- Failing to take a complete history or perform an adequate examination
- Not considering a dangerous condition that the symptoms could indicate
- Not ordering a test that the symptoms called for
- Misreading imaging, pathology, or lab results
- Failing to act on or communicate an abnormal result
- Failing to refer the patient to a specialist when the situation required it
Some of these failures involve a single provider. Others involve a system, such as a hospital where a radiology report never reaches the physician who ordered it. Those system failures are often part of hospital negligence claims.
Real-World Examples
Diagnostic errors appear across medicine. A patient with sudden dizziness and a severe headache may be sent home with a diagnosis of migraine when the symptoms pointed to a stroke. A patient with chest pain and shortness of breath may be discharged without testing for a blood clot, as our article on a missed pulmonary embolism describes. A mass on an imaging study may go unreported or unfollowed, delaying a cancer diagnosis until treatment options have narrowed. Our article on cancer misdiagnosis looks at when that kind of delay may support a claim.
Negligence Compared With an Unavoidable Diagnostic Challenge
Not every missed diagnosis is malpractice. Some conditions present with unusual symptoms, and some tests miss a condition even when they are performed and read correctly. A provider who considers the reasonable possibilities, orders appropriate tests, and follows up on the results may still miss a diagnosis without being negligent.
The legal question is what a reasonably careful provider in the same field would have done with the information available at the time. Hindsight does not decide the case. A claim generally asks:
- What symptoms, history, and test results did the provider have at each visit?
- Would a reasonably careful provider have considered the correct diagnosis?
- Would that provider have ordered a test or referral that would have revealed it?
- Would earlier diagnosis have led to treatment that changed the outcome?
The last question is often the most disputed. A patient must show that the delay caused harm, not only that it occurred. Our guide to the medical standard of care explains how providers’ decisions are measured. It also covers the separate standard Georgia applies to care in hospital emergency departments.
Timing Rules for Misdiagnosis Claims
Georgia treats timing in misdiagnosis cases differently than many people expect. In most cases, the injury is considered to begin at the misdiagnosis itself, so the two-year filing period starts then, not when the correct diagnosis is made. A narrow exception applies when an untreated condition later develops into a new, more serious condition. Our guide to Georgia filing deadlines explains these rules and the court decision behind them.
What You Can Do If You Suspect a Diagnostic Error
- Continue your medical care. Follow the advice of your current treating physician about your health. This guide is not medical advice.
- Gather your records. Request records from every provider involved, including office notes, imaging, lab and pathology results, and referral records. Our guide to requesting your medical records explains the process.
- Write down a timeline. List each visit, the symptoms you reported, the tests performed, and what you were told, while the details are fresh.
- Speak with a lawyer early. Because the filing period often starts at the misdiagnosis, waiting until treatment is complete can put a claim at risk.
Next Steps
When the records suggest a diagnosis should have been made sooner, our failure to diagnose lawyer page explains how our attorneys investigate and pursue these claims in Atlanta. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers also represents patients in nearby communities, including Stonecrest. Contact us to schedule a free consultation and have our attorneys review your records.
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