How do you prove a medical misdiagnosis?

Situations that may result in a successful misdiagnosis claim include:

• Incorrect diagnosis, leading to inappropriate treatment
• Missed diagnosis, resulting in no treatment or delayed treatment
• Failure to spot symptoms of a serious underlying health condition
• Not recognising complications that change or worsen a condition
• Failure to diagnose a related disease

Any of these may have a number of implications for affected patients and their loved ones. For instance, an incorrect diagnosis could lead to a patient undergoing unnecessary, invasive treatments, that both cause them avoidable pain or discomfort and do not resolve the actual problem they are facing.

Alternatively, a missed diagnosis can lead to patients being sent home without being treated. This would allow the disease or injury to progress and, depending on the condition, could place that individual in a precarious state when they finally receive treatment, or drastically alter their prognosis from when they were originally seen by their healthcare provider.

At Gadsby Wicks, we recognise the life-altering consequences a medical misdiagnosis can have, which is why we apply the time and attention to detail necessary to proving whether or not a misdiagnosis was a result of negligence.

Firstly, it must be established that your healthcare provider owed you a reasonable duty of care for the treatment you received.

What does reasonable mean? This means that the professional in question should act with the expected skill and ability of a competent person in that role. For instance, if your healthcare provider is an orthopaedic surgeon, they should demonstrate the reasonable skills and understanding of an orthopaedic surgeon.

You then have to prove that this duty of care was breached – that the provider did something, or failed to do something, that a reasonable person in their position would have done. This is known as the Bolam Test, which states that if a healthcare provider has acted according to proper and accepted practice, they cannot be seen as negligent.

This is important, because even if a misdiagnosis occurs, if the healthcare provider acted reasonably and logically at the time, then a claim would not be successful.

An example…

Imagine a scenario where, upon examining their patient, a healthcare provider decides they should receive both bloodwork and X-rays. Both are reasonable actions for the patient’s condition. They go for bloodwork first, and prior to their X-rays their condition significantly worsens due to something that would have been found on an X-ray.

The healthcare provider in this situation would not be considered negligible because other healthcare workers agree that it was a reasonable decision based on what they knew about the patient at the time.

Due to the complexities of the human body, and that multiple conditions share similar symptoms, the law does not expect healthcare providers to get diagnoses correct every time.

However, what is expected is they take all reasonable steps to diagnose and treat their patients. If their actions/inactions are judged to have been unreasonable, like failing to spot an obvious issue on a scan or overlooking a noticeable symptom.

Finally, to prove a medical misdiagnosis, the harm you suffered must be directly connected to the misdiagnosis you received.

Generally, as discussed above, the failure to correctly identify someone suffering a heart attack or cardiac arrest will most often have a clear link between the misdiagnosis and the consequences that follow.

However, where there is a greater distance of time between the initial misdiagnosis and the eventual outcome, the question of causation can be more difficult to determine. This is based on the balance of probabilities – this test considers whether it is more likely that the harm caused to a claimant was directly the result of the misdiagnosis over any other potential circumstance.

We hope that this article has given you a clearer understanding of what someone needs to prove in order for a misdiagnosis claim to be successful.

Proving a medical misdiagnosis was negligible is often a lengthy, exhaustive and time-consuming process. It will require your solicitors to conduct thorough investigations of all available evidence, including:

• Complaint correspondence
• Medical records
• Witness statements
• Photographs
• Independent medical opinion
• Financial evidence

This makes it vital to approach a firm that has the expertise, experience and attention to detail necessary to investigate the evidence and thoroughly understand your situation. At Gadsby Wicks, we are specialists in handling misdiagnosis claims, taking all necessary steps to prove whether your suffering was a result of negligence and, if so, helping you secure the compensation, answers and justice you deserve.

If you believe you or a loved one has been affected by a misdiagnosis, or you would like to learn more about our wider services, get in touch with our team today.

Disclaimer

All content contained within this article is meant for general information only – this should not be treated as a substitute for medical advice from your doctor or another healthcare provider. If you require legal advice specific to your situation, please contact our team directly.

Gadsby Wicks is not liable for any diagnosis made from the content of this article, nor does it endorse any service or external site linked to within the article.

Always consult your GP if you are concerned about your health and wellbeing, or speak to us if you require legal advice.