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
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
Approximately 40 percent of Americans who visit a doctor have the feeling that they’ve been misdiagnosed, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control. The Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences, additionally reports that more Americans die every year from medical malpractice, including