Individuals who are experiencing worrisome or painful symptoms often seek the advice of a medical professional. Typically a doctor takes a patient’s vital signs, asks he or she to describe the symptoms and performs an examination. Additionally, a doctor may order diagnostic tests to either pinpoint or rule out certain possible medical conditions.
Incidents of medical malpractice that stem from misdiagnosis are typically related to a doctor’s failure to diagnose a condition or disease that subsequently results in a patient suffering harm or injury. There are, however, also cases involving misdiagnosis where a doctor wrongful diagnoses an individual as having a serious medical condition or problem.
A husband and wife recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor and physician’s assistant related to a misdiagnosis. The man was told by the doctor and physician’s assistant that he had Crohn’s Disease. A painful inflammatory disease that impacts an individual’s ability to normally digest and pass food, individuals diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease often experience painful symptoms that can be both debilitating and life-threatening.
Upon being diagnosed with the serious disease, the man’s doctors recommended he begin taking the prescription drug Prednisone which is known to have many negative side effects. The man subsequently learned he did not have Crohn’s Disease and he recently filed a lawsuit against the doctors accusing them of negligence in failing to order proper diagnostic tests.
The plaintiffs are suing to recover compensation related to medical expenses, legal fees and loss of consortium. They are seeking to recover damages in excess of $300,000.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Man sues doctor and physician’s assistant over alleged misdiagnosis of Crohn’s,” Andrea Dearden, Nov. 5, 2013
