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Health conditions doctors commonly misdiagnose

On Behalf of | Jul 3, 2018 | Medical Malpractice

When you visit your Louisiana doctor, you likely want to feel confident that he or she will be able to assess your symptoms accurately and render a precise diagnosis about your condition. Regrettably, however, even physicians are not immune to error, and when doctors make certain mistakes, the repercussions can prove catastrophic. At Jacqueline A. Scott & Associates, we recognize just how devastating it can be when a doctor incorrectly diagnoses your condition, and we have helped many clients who were victims of such circumstances pursue appropriate recourse.

Per Fox News, medical diagnostic errors now account for about 10 percent of all American patient deaths, with about one out of every five adult Americans who seek treatment for symptoms receiving a diagnosis that is too late, missed or inaccurate. Because misdiagnoses can lead to unnecessary treatments and delays in critical treatments, it is important for anyone who believes they received an incorrect medical diagnosis to seek a second opinion.

Certain medical conditions are more commonly misdiagnosed than others. Heart attacks, for example, make the list, and African Americans are more likely to receive a misdiagnosis relating to a heart attack, because their symptoms are less likely to appear on angiogram tests. Breast, colorectal and lung cancers are also frequently misdiagnosed, and in many cases, this occurs because physicians fail to follow up abnormal test results with biopsies.

Nearly 10 percent of stroke victims also receive late diagnoses, and in some cases, this occurs because the symptoms stroke victims sometimes exhibit are not unlike those exhibited by migraine sufferers. Find more about medical malpractice on our web page.