Is undiagnosed a misdiagnosis?

Undiagnosed is a misdiagnosis, but you might not always have a medical malpractice case. It depends on many different factors, such as how honest you were with the doctor about your symptoms, whether you experienced more harm and how reasonable it is to expect the doctor to correctly diagnose you. In North Carolina, you could sue a doctor for medical malpractice if they failed to diagnose you and you lose money on medical procedures or missed the chance to receive effective treatment.

Reasons for failure to diagnose

Some major health issues have symptoms that are sporadic or similar to other less serious conditions. If you have an occasional headache, for instance, you and your doctor may brush it off. Doctors sometimes struggle to determine which body system is responsible for your symptoms. They may accidentally refer you to the wrong specialist. This can cause a delay or failure to diagnose.

You might have more than one health condition, which can confuse medical practitioners as they attempt to diagnose you. Some health conditions don’t have definitive tests for diagnosing.

Your doctor may fail to consider certain health conditions because of how rare they are. This can lead to a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose. Even if you know a condition is rare for your age, bring it up to your doctor if they are struggling to figure it out.

Documentation you need to gather

If you suspect your doctor is liable for medical malpractice because they should have diagnosed you but didn’t, then you need to gather important documents for preparing your case. You need the initial medical records from when the symptoms started, proof that you had a patient-physician relationship, records of ongoing treatment and physician recommendations, and expert medical malpractice opinion letters.

Going for a while without a diagnosis is not only frustrating but could result in additional harm. Be prepared for filing a medical practice lawsuit if you need to.