Patients in the Tri-Cities region rely on the physicians who treat them to first conduct a thorough physical exam, oral exam, and order diagnostic tests. The first rule of medical care for doctors is to make sure they’re treating the correct disease or disorder. Doctors who are unsure what diagnosis to make should consult with specialists who can make the right decision. Failure to make a proper diagnosis can cause necessary treatment to be delayed, worsening health, or death. An improper diagnosis may be medical malpractice.
At Telaré Law, our Kennewick medical malpractice lawyers are respected statewide for our ability to try cases before juries. Many insurance companies and defense lawyers recommend settlements because they know that the odds of a higher jury verdict are likely if our lawyers are arguing your claim. We work with independent physicians who understand what diagnostic review steps should have been taken, and why the misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis is so harmful. Many diagnostic errors cannot be corrected. Many diagnostic mistakes are fatal.
A diagnostic error is a mistake by the doctor who agrees to treat your disease or illness. The mistake can be a failure to make a timely diagnosis. The mistake can be a diagnosis of a wrong condition, such as diagnosing a panic attack instead of the correct condition such as heart disease. Most illnesses and diseases can be diagnosed properly through routine competent exams and imaging tests. Some diagnoses may be difficult to make but dealing with these challenges is supposed to be part of your doctor’s job.
Not every diagnostic error rises to the level of medical malpractice. For an improper diagnosis to constitute medical malpractice:
The patient must have sustained damages because of the injuries.
At Telaré Law, our lawyers handle the following types of misdiagnosis errors:
There are many complications that are directly attributable to a misdiagnosis. Doctors and health providers deserve to be held accountable when a diagnostic error harms their patients. The consequences of a misdiagnosis include:
A failure to properly any of the following health conditions can cause severe harm or death. Many of these conditions are treatable, with prompt attention and a proper diagnosis. Some of the more commonly misdiagnosed conditions include:
In addition to the physicians, other healthcare professionals who may be responsible for a misdiagnosis include:
Our lawyers work with medical specialists who understand the proper standards of diagnostic evaluation and care for your type of disease or health disorder. We question everyone involved in the diagnosis. Our lawyers examine all the medical reports, records, tests, videos, and other physical evidence that can confirm what steps were taken (and were not taken) to diagnose your condition – from the initial visit through all subsequent visits and tests. We investigate what other mistakes the doctors who treated you may have committed in the past.
Once we have the evidence necessary to show the improper diagnosis was made, we work with our team of doctors and you to show:
We would file a wrongful death claim if the improper diagnosis caused the death of a loved one, seeking additional damages for burial and funeral expenses.
Generally, you must file a medical malpractice claim in Washington within three years of the date of the improper diagnosis. That timeline may be extended to the extent there is a gap between the date of improper diagnosis and the reasonable time for making a proper diagnosis. Many patients don’t realize until months or years later that a diagnosis was improper.
Telaré Law maintains an office in Kennewick at 819 South Auburn St. We also meet clients at our Richland office. Since many diagnostic error victims are in ill health, we often make arrangements to see clients at their homes or the hospital.
At Telaré Law, our lawyers only represent injury victims. We’ve earned the respect of former clients and the legal community. We understand your anger and frustration that your health wasn’t treated correctly and in a timely manner. Our lawyers fight to hold health providers liable when they fail to provide competent care.
To discuss your medical malpractice claim, call our Kennewick injury lawyers at (509)737-8500
or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation. We represent diagnostic error victims on a contingency fee basis. Our lawyers represent clients who reside in Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, Walla Walla, Pullman, Othello, Moses Lake, Ritzville, and all Southeast Washington.