When you arrive at the hospital, you expect that the doctor will diagnose your medical condition, treat you and send you home better than you were before. What happens if you do not improve with treatment? What if it only becomes worse over time? This is a reality when you face medical malpractice. In particular, it can be dangerous for those who face misdiagnosis.
Every year, according to Healthline, Americans die or suffer serious injury from medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, for instance, is one of the most common medical mistakes that a person may suffer. Diagnostic errors may happen in all health categories. However, there are three main categories that people are more often to face misdiagnosis. These categories include:
- Vascular events
- Infections
- Cancers
All the time that you spend without proper treatment is time for the illness to worsen. Most illnesses do get worse over time when left untreated. This is especially true in these three categories. For instance, you would never want an infection left untreated. What might start as a simple infection, in need of a short round of antibiotics could end up leading to sepsis and needing serious medical treatment and hospitalization.
Errors in judgment might not sound like a big ordeal. When it comes to vascular events, doctors may misdiagnose severe blood clots, strokes and more. How does this happen? After your hospital visit, no doubt you may wonder how something like this could happen to you. Often, the reason for errors in judgment is that the doctor does not order important diagnostic tests or narrows in on one diagnostic focus.