Misdiagnosis Lawyer in D.C.
Although we trust doctors and other medical providers to promptly and correctly diagnose whatever ails us, the process of diagnosing a medical condition is not always an exact science. Diseases and conditions can present differently in different patients. However, sometimes a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis occurs not due to the difficulties in pinpointing signs and symptoms but rather because a physician or other health care professional negligently commits errors during their care of a patient, causing them to miss or misinterpret symptoms and other data that should have led to a timely, correct diagnosis.
When a patient suffers harm that they would not have had to endure with a timely, accurate diagnosis, the patient’s negligent medical provider may be held responsible for the patient’s injuries and damages in a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis claim.
With over 25 years of experience in the health care industry, the attorneys of Bertram & Murphy, bring a wide variety of backgrounds and a broad perspective on health care to help clients seek the compensation and justice they deserve when they have been harmed. Our firm focuses exclusively on medical malpractice cases. You can be assured that our medical malpractice attorneys have the knowledge and experience necessary to effectively argue the complex factual and legal issues that arise in misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis claims.
We also have the benefit of a strong network of medical experts who can help us investigate, build persuasive arguments, and testify on your behalf in a deposition or at trial.
You can trust that when you choose Bertram & Murphy, to represent you in your misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis case, we won’t rest until you get the answers you deserve about what happened in your care and are provided with the financial compensation you need for your treatment and the justice you deserve for the physical and emotional harm you have had to endure.
If you’ve been the victim of a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis by a physician or other medical provider, schedule a no-cost initial case evaluation with the Washington, D.C. medical malpractice attorneys at Bertram & Murphy. We will help you learn more about your legal rights and options for pursuing full financial recovery for your injuries and damages. Call us today.
Our Washington, D.C. Misdiagnosis Lawyer Can Help You
If you believe you may have a claim against your medical providers for misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of a medical condition, the Washington, D.C. misdiagnosis lawyers at Bertram & Murphy may be able to help you pursue your case by:
- Thoroughly investigating your case, including gathering your medical records and conducting depositions of your medical providers
- Collaborating with medical experts to establish the applicable standard of care in your treatment and to develop a strong, persuasive argument to show how your physician’s conduct fell below this standard
- Ensuring your claims are timely filed
- Aggressively negotiating on your behalf with the liable medical providers and their insurers to try to reach a settlement of your claims that provides you with full and fair compensation of your damages
- Preparing to take your case to trial, if necessary, to pursue an outcome in your favor, and advocating your case to the judge and jury for a verdict and judgment in your favor
A misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis case can often be a factually and legally complex process. You don’t have to fight for the financial compensation you need and deserve on your own.
Let our Washington, D.C. medical misdiagnosis lawyers fight to seek recovery and justice after you have suffered from a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis.
Common Types of Misdiagnosis
Diagnostic errors rank among the most common reasons for medical malpractice claims arising from death and/or disability. A diagnostic error can result in a false-positive, which can result in patients being misdiagnosed and undergoing unnecessary treatments, or in a false-negative or an equivocal result, which can delay a patient’s diagnosis and treatment.
Some of the most commonly misdiagnosed medical conditions and illnesses include:
- Infarctions, including stroke and heart attack, which are commonly misdiagnosed as heartburn, ear infections, or migraines, leading to the delay in the administration of life-saving clot-busting drugs
- Pulmonary embolism
- Cancer
- Pneumonia
- Aspergillosis, or fungal infection of the lungs, commonly misdiagnosed as tuberculosis
- Cerebral palsy
- Complications of pregnancy
Arguably, the condition most commonly misdiagnosed or subject to a delayed diagnosis is cancer. The longer it takes to arrive at a proper diagnosis of cancer, the lower the survival rate due to the delay in getting effective treatments.
Causes of the Failure to Diagnose and Treat
Ultimately, a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis is caused by a physician missing the signs, symptoms, or other evidence that should lead them to the correct diagnosis in a differential diagnosis.
Some of the most common causes of a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis include:
- Failure to conduct a comprehensive physical examination of the patient
- Failure to take a complete family and medical history from the patient
- Failure to conduct a thorough review of the patient’s medical history
- Failure to order diagnostic tests, such as blood tests, X-rays, or MRIs, or to order follow up tests in response to initial tests results
- Improperly conducted testing, either due to technician negligence or due to failure to properly maintain testing equipment
- Failure to correctly interpret diagnostic test results
- Failure to seek a referral to or consultation with specialists when possible diseases or conditions are outside the physician’s expertise (such as failing to refer a possible cancer diagnosis to an oncologist)
Compensation You Could Recieve After a Misdiagnosis Lawsuit
If you have had a medical condition misdiagnosed or subject to a delayed diagnosis, you may be entitled to seek compensation for the injuries and damages that result from the delay in your diagnosis and treatment, including:
- Costs of medical treatment, specifically those treatments that could have been avoided had your condition been initially diagnosed (for example, if a delay in your cancer treatment means you must skip a more targeted therapy and must undergo more intensive and expensive surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy)
- Lost wages, for the time you missed from work during your treatment and recovery that you would not have missed, had you been properly diagnosed
- Lost earning capacity, if the delayed diagnosis results in a disability that prevents you from returning to your old job or disables you from any kind of employment
- Pain and suffering brought about due to the more advanced condition of the misdiagnosed illness
- Lost quality of life, if the delay in your diagnosis causes you to miss out on activities you enjoy or to lose quality years of life
If you have a family member who passed away due to an illness or condition whose diagnosis was delayed or which went undiagnosed, your family may also be entitled to seek wrongful death damages for the loss of your loved one’s contributions to your household and the loss of their society, companionship, guidance, and care.
The Process in a Misdiagnosis Medical Malpractice Case
- The process of seeking compensation when you’ve suffered a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of your medical condition begins when you contact our firm. Our experienced medical malp
- ractice attorneys can begin thoroughly investigating your case, including obtaining copies of your medical records. We also work with medical experts to develop the critical expert testimony necessary for your case.
- Like all medical malpractice cases, a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis case requires you to prove that your doctor’s conduct failed to comply with the applicable standard of care – in other words, your physician failed to take actions that another reasonable physician of similar training and experience would have taken under circumstances identical to your case.
- You will need to show that other reasonable physicians would have made different decisions during your care that would have led to the timely, correct diagnosis of your condition, and that a timely diagnosis would have meant an improved prognosis or meant that you would avoid more expensive or more painful treatment.
- Once we have a strong legal case, we can begin negotiating with your medical providers and their malpractice insurers to try to seek full and fair compensation for your injuries and damages. If negotiations can’t reach a settlement that provides you with the compensation you deserve, our lawyers are fully prepared to take your case to court and to trial.
Our attorneys have the experience and skill to successfully argue your misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis case and show that your physician’s negligence led to you not receiving a timely diagnosis and that you would have had a much better outcome from your treatment had you received a timely diagnosis.
Contact a Washington, D.C. Misdiagnosis Attorney at Bertram & Murphy
If you have suffered from illness or injury due to a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis from a medical provider, contact Bertram & Murphy today by calling to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.
Talk with one of our experienced attorneys about your case and learn more about how our firm can help you seek the financial compensation you need and deserve.
