Delayed Diagnosis

Whether you are visiting your physician due to illness, or you are preparing for a planned surgery, you place an extraordinary amount of trust in your doctor and the care you’ll receive. Consider the following scenario—imagine that during a routine examination, a radiologist performs x-rays prior to an operation. The x-rays reveal a nodule on the lung that concerns the radiologist. In turn, the radiologist recommends that further tests, including a CT scan be taken. Unfortunately, a CT scan is never taken and the nodule is not examined further. Consequently, the individual later learns that they have stage IV cancer, and the prognosis is grim. This is one example of a delayed diagnosis that could lead to a medical malpractice claim.

Without question, when a doctor fails to diagnose a medical condition, it can produce serious physical, financial and emotional consequences for individuals and their families. Depending on the condition, it can even lead to death. Given the following conditions, a delayed diagnosis can be especially devastating.

• Brain Injuries: Did you know? Bleeding and bruising in the brain does not elicit any outward symptoms. Yet, failure to diagnose a brain injury could be life altering. In effect, it could take someone’s life.
• Internal Bleeding: Failure to check for or treat internal bleeding may result in death. It’s important to understand that there are no obvious outward indications of internal bleeding. Thus, doctors must be proactive to discover it.
• Diabetes: Undiagnosed diabetes can produce dire consequences for those affected including blindness, kidney failure, amputation and diabetic coma, which can lead to death.
• Heart Disease: When individuals have undetected heart disease, they are at risk for a sudden heart attack and ultimately death.
• Cancer: It is believed that many types of cancers, when detected early, can be cured. Yet, even when cancer in incurable, early detection can provide individuals with more time, which is valuable to family members and friends. Thus, when cancer goes undetected, it’s easy to understand the devastation that individuals feel as their survival rate drops dramatically.

When medical conditions go undetected, or when they are diagnosed late, it could be the difference between life and death. That’s why it is important to contact a medical malpractice attorney if you or a loved one is hurt as a result. You might be able to file a medical malpractice claim against your doctor or healthcare provider.

To gain insight into a potential medical malpractice case in Georgia, call Plunkett, Hamilton, Manton & Graves, LLP today. You can trust us to remain dedicated to your case for as long as it takes.