What Is the Most Potentially Catastrophic Type of Medical Mistake?

Going to the doctor is already a nerve-wracking experience. You’re feeling sick, in pain, and at your most vulnerable. You seek medical help to make you feel better, and you expect only the best care so that doctors can get to the bottom of what’s ailing you and start treatment. However, when a medical mistake occurs, the opposite could happen. The effects could even be fatal.

Medical mistakes can be grounds for filing a med mal claim. In Arkansas, when you’ve experienced medical malpractice from your doctor or another medical professional, you could use the help of McMath Woods P.A. Our med mal lawyers are prepared to fight for your rights against a negligent doctor.

The Dangers of Diagnostic Error

The most potentially catastrophic type of medical mistake that can happen is diagnostic error or misdiagnosis. In fact, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, and misdiagnosis is one of those errors that contributes to those fatalities.

Diagnostic errors account for the largest amount of medical malpractice claims and are the most harmful for patients. The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine claims that anywhere between 40,000 and 80,000 patients in the U.S. die each year from diagnostic errors. One in three people have experience with diagnostic error or misdiagnosis, which is why it’s such a large problem.

When patients are misdiagnosed and the actual ailment is serious, they could die from the ailment before receiving proper care. If a young patient comes into an emergency room and is misdiagnosed with a panic attack when they are exhibiting symptoms of a heart attack, then their life could be in danger because their heart attack is left untreated. This is why it’s important to consider all possible options before ruling any diagnoses out.

If a patient is misdiagnosed with a serious ailment and subsequently treated for it, that can also be harmful and potentially deadly to them. For example, if a patient is diagnosed with cancer, but they don’t actually have cancer, the treatments could cause them unnecessary harm. The drugs they’re administered could cause them to get even more sick, or they could even overdose from the medication. The emotional damages from thinking they have cancer could also be catastrophic to their mental and emotional health.

On top of the risk to their health, patients could also experience unnecessary costs when they are misdiagnosed. The extra costs for care, surgeries, treatments, and medications could all be more than they can bear. The doctor’s mistake could plunge them into medical debt that wasn’t necessary after all.

How Can You Recover from Medical Mistakes?

When you’ve been misdiagnosed and received not enough or too much treatment because of it, you might be wondering what you can do to recover. Hopefully the mistake is able to be reversed with proper care, but that’s not always the case. When you’ve incurred more costs than you should have because of a misdiagnosis or any other medical error, then you can file a medical malpractice claim to at least financially recover from the mistake.

When you hire a med mal lawyer, they will be able to tell you what you’re eligible to recover in damages from a negligent doctor. The physical, emotional, and financial damages that your doctor caused you should not go unpunished. Here are some of the factors that we can recover damages for in your med mal claim:

• Medical bills
• Treatment and surgery costs
• Medication costs
• Recovery expenses
• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Lost wages

We Can Handle Your Med Mal Claim

After a misdiagnosis from a doctor you trusted, you might be feeling lost and unsure of who to turn to. Our experienced medical malpractice lawyers at McMath Woods P.A. in Arkansas can help you through this hard time and get you the financial compensation you deserve for your damages.

We’ll fully investigate what happened, where your doctor went wrong, and figure out all the costs that you incurred that you shouldn’t have. With us on your side, you can feel confident in your claim and know that you have trustworthy representation on your side. Contact our office today so we can get started.