Every year, about twelve million adults in the United States are misdiagnosed in hospitals, doctors’ offices and medical clinics. Misdiagnosing a severe illness and recommending the wrong treatment can cause great harm to an already-sick patient. Misdiagnosis can also be the basis for a medical malpractice claim. In the Chicago area, if you have been misdiagnosed, and the misdiagnosis has caused you additional illness or injury, speak right away to a trustworthy and experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney: Joseph M. Dooley. You may be able to receive compensation for your additional medical care and the other expenses related to your misdiagnosis. Attorney Joseph Dooley can help.
Johns Hopkins University researchers found in 2013 that cancer, heart disease, and meningitis are the most frequently misdiagnosed diseases in the United States, contributing to as many as 160,000 deaths a year. The researchers published their findings in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety. A mistaken diagnosis can negatively impact anyone’s health. A doctor could fail to detect a severe underlying condition that you suffer, or you could be diagnosed with a condition you don’t actually have. You could be seriously injured either way. When you take your case to Chicago medical malpractice attorney Joseph M. Dooley, he can uncover the facts, consult with the experts, and fight hard for you, the compensation you need, and the justice you deserve.
Misdiagnosis can also mean that the wrong medicines were prescribed for you or the wrong procedures were performed. It also means that the proper treatment for your condition has been delayed, and delays can cause yet more serious complications or injuries.
When a medical malpractice mistake happens at a hospital, historically many hospitals adopted a denial and cover-up approach. While some individual doctors have always been motivated by personal ethics to be candid with patients and their families about mistakes, others have opted to obscure the truth, even encouraging colleagues to stay silent about malpractice. While this old approach is rapidly fading, thousands are still injured every year in medical malpractice incidents. Victims of malpractice in Illinois are entitled to compensation for malpractice-based injuries and related expenses. A panel of doctors recently published a list of recommendations in the New England Journal of Medicine for ways to increase transparency regarding medical mistakes. The doctors offered these recommendations:
- Reaffirm every physician’s ethical duty to be honest and transparent with patients
- Encourage doctors to point out apparent mistakes to colleagues
- Encourage hospitals to create guidelines for confronting mistakes and for managing disclosure of the details about such incidents
If the medical profession adopted these guidelines, it would substantially change medical malpractice litigation and make it easier for victims and their families to get justice without contentious courtroom disputes.
If you are injured or harmed by a medical misdiagnosis in the Chicago area or anywhere in Illinois, now or in the future, act at once to protect yourself. Contact Attorney Joseph Dooley by email at [email protected] or call 312-236-7282. Help is here for the victims of medical misdiagnosis. If that includes you or someone you love, make the call promptly.