You may not know what medical condition you are experiencing, but you may be certain you are not in full health. This is why you may turn to a trusted medical professional, who may give you the answers you are searching for. However, it is possible that your physician came to the wrong conclusion and that your current medical condition has yet to be properly diagnosed. If this is your case, please follow along to find out the potential consequences of misdiagnosis and how a proficient New York City diagnosis error attorney at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. can help you rise above them.
How does a misdiagnosis happen?
By definition, a misdiagnosis is a medical professional’s inaccurate or incomplete diagnosis of an illness or other medical issue. This may subsequently lead to a medical professional incorrectly prescribing a course of treatment for a misinterpreted disease, injury, syndrome, behavior, infection, or again, another medical issue.
Cancer is, unfortunately, an illness that is commonly misdiagnosed. For example, a medical professional may conclude that a patient has fibrocystic breast disease, which is a common, benign condition that causes breast tissue to change in a non-cancerous way. However, a patient may be exhibiting the early stages of breast cancer. Such a misdiagnosis may transpire if a medical professional fails to order the proper tests, interpret the test results correctly, or recommend a patient to a cancer specialist sooner.
What are the potential consequences of a misdiagnosis?
Your physical health may suffer major consequences after your illness is misdiagnosed. Mainly, your quality of life may significantly decline if your illness has progressed to a point where more intensive treatments are required. What’s worse, the chances of you beating this illness and surviving may have significantly dropped. In the meantime, you may have been undergoing the incorrect treatments that caused you unnecessary pain or otherwise health complications.
This is not to mention the emotional and financial tolls a misdiagnosis may have on you. For one, you may now experience feelings of anxiety or depression over not getting the answers you need to improve your health. You may even get diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, in which you now struggle to place your trust in all other medical professionals. Secondly, you may have had to pay hefty medical bills for treatments that were unnecessary for you to undergo in the first place. You may have had to take time off work for these unnecessary treatments, as well.
If you are actively struggling with these economic and non-economic damages, you may be eligible for a medical malpractice claim against the negligent doctor who misdiagnosed your medical condition. We strongly encourage you to retain the services of a talented New York City diagnosis error attorney. You may do so by scheduling an initial consultation with Mark L. Bodner, P.C. today.