The parents of a young pediatrician who died nearly three years ago of a brain hemorrhage have settled a malpractice suit against the medical center that she worked for. The settlement came just a few days after the trial began.The terms of the settlement weren't...
Failure To Diagnose
Why is heart disease in women still so often misdiagnosed?
Heart disease is the greatest killer of women in this country. More women die from heart disease than all cancers combined. As we near the end of American Heart Month, this is a good time to discuss the continued misdiagnosis of heart disease and heart attacks in...
Medical testing leaves a lot of room for error
One of the keys to receiving the medical treatment you need in a timely manner is getting the proper tests and having those tests read accurately. This includes X-rays, MRIs, CT scans and ultrasounds as well as tests like mammograms, EKGs, angiograms, biopsies and...
What can patients do to avoid a misdiagnosis?
A failure to diagnose an ailment correctly puts the patient's life and health at great risk. While no one is infallible, medical personnel have a duty to practice medicine in as safe a manner as possible. This means remaining up-to-date with illnesses, conditions,...
My doctor didn’t order a biopsy. Should he or she have?
The first step in successfully treating a patient for cancer or other serious illnesses is acquiring a correct diagnosis. In most cases, patients can trust their physicians to take all steps necessary to acquire this diagnosis and then create an appropriate treatment...
Tort reform stories in the media often reported without context
Several of our recent posts have been focused on the debate over "tort reform," specifically as it applies to medical malpractice lawsuits. The common argument made by tort reform proponents was that doctors were ordering expensive and unnecessary tests because they...
Failure to diagnose cancer quickly enough
When it comes to cancer, time is often of the essence, as it is a disease that spreads--slowly, in some cases, but very quickly in others--from one part of the body to the next. For example, cancer could start in the lymph nodes of the neck, but, if untreated, it...
Failure to diagnose early signs of stroke a common problem
For serious medical problems, timely treatment has perhaps the greatest effect on patient outcomes. If detected and treated as early as possible, several of the most common killers - heart attack, stroke and cancer - are survivable. But misdiagnosis and failure to...
Failure to diagnose proper illness leads to death of young girl
New Jersey residents may be familiar with case of a young girl who passed away because of a failure to diagnose properly. The family of the young girl claims that the doctor diagnosed the child with flu when she actually had pneumonia. The failure to diagnose the...
Upgraded brain scans could improve brain injury diagnoses
Head injuries have been front and center in the collective American mindset for several years now, with media accounts of traumatic brain injury -- including, centrally, concussions --- regularly featuring in stories concerning head trauma suffered by people engaged...
