Despite its advances, modern medicine is not perfect. Even the best doctors can lack the tools, technology, or information to accurately diagnose a patient’s issues. However, medical professionals are responsible for acting with due care and taking advantage of the resources available to them when providing a patient with a diagnosis. When they fail to do so, this is medical malpractice.
When a doctor fails to appropriately identify your medical condition, you may be entitled to compensation. An Indiana failure to diagnose lawyer could help you analyze the doctor’s actions, consult with medical experts, and evaluate your legal options and remedies.
Common Causes of Diagnostic Errors
It is often difficult to distinguish a poor medical result from actual malpractice. Accurately analyzing what happened throughout a patient’s care requires a careful evaluation, extensive technical understanding, and access to medical expertise. Some of the common causes of diagnostic errors could include the following:
- Failure to communicate necessary information to the patient or other healthcare providers
- Failure to adequately review the patient’s physical symptoms or medical history
- Inadequate attention to the patient’s complaints or concerns
- Failure to refer the patient to the appropriate specialist
- Failure to order the proper tests or blood work
- Incorrectly interpreting test results
- Inadequate medical training
An Indiana attorney with experience representing patients with diagnostic issues could help review medical records and take depositions of relevant medical personnel. In addition, they could work with several medical experts to uncover potential liable causes that were present in the patient’s situation and contributed to harm.
Compensation Available
If a patient and their Indiana lawyer can prove that a failure to diagnose a medical condition occurred, they could be entitled to compensation for their losses, also referred to as damages. The amount of compensation will depend on the context of the medical malpractice. Generally, the patient is entitled to objectively calculable losses they sustained because of the doctor’s actions, or lack of action. These could include medical expenses or wages lost from time missed at work.
In addition, the patient is also entitled to damages that are subjective and may be more difficult to calculate. These types of damages may not have a receipt attached like a hospital bill, but they can still address certain losses the patient experienced, such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, or loss of consortium.
However, Indiana Code § 34-18-14-3 caps the total amount of damages that a patient may recover in a medical malpractice lawsuit. For any action a doctor takes after June 30, 2019, that rises to the level of malpractice, a patient cannot recover for more than $1,800,000. Of that amount, the doctor or other healthcare provider will not be directly liable for more than $500,000. The rest of the payment to the patient will come from a compensation fund established for these purposes.
Reach Out to A Medical Malpractice Attorney in Indiana Today
When you or a loved one are harmed by a physician’s carelessness or inaction, you deserve compensation for your damages and losses. You likely have enough on your plate managing your physical health as you focus on recovering. A personal injury lawyer could help lift the burden by assisting in and handling your case to protect and assert your legal rights.
Reach out to an Indiana failure to diagnose lawyer to discover what help is available.