Jacksonville Attorneys Represent You In A Medical Malpractice Claim Based On A Wrong Diagnosis

Holding Physicians And Others Accountable For Diagnostic Negligence

Misdiagnoses in medicine are an unfortunate reality. We expect the physicians we entrust with our health to, at the very least, correctly diagnose our medical problem so that the best course of treatment can follow. If a physician has misdiagnosed your medical condition and that misdiagnosis led to further injury—or even the death of a loved one—you have the right to sue for negligence. And because there’s a two-year statute of limitation in Florida when it comes to filing a medical malpractice suit, it’s essential to seek legal help as soon as you possibly can.

At Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A., our experienced Jacksonville personal injury lawyers know that a significant number of medical malpractice suits stem from the wrong diagnosis. Whether that error led to the wrong treatment, delayed treatment, or no treatment whatsoever, the harm done to you or a family member deserves compensation. Physicians are held to a legally binding standard of care, meaning that your physician should have acted as another physician, under the same circumstances and with the same medical training, would have. When that care is found to be negligent, we hold the responsible party or parties accountable.

How We Prove Negligence In Your Case

To prove negligence in a medical malpractice suit based on a wrong diagnosis, we must first show that three conditions exist:

• There was a doctor-patient relationship.
• The doctor in that relationship was negligent by failing to provide reasonably skilled diagnosis and treatment.
• That negligence caused you harm or injury.

You can only get the right medical treatment when your physician has made the correct diagnosis. He or she does this by coming up with a number of potential diagnoses based on your symptoms and medical history, making further medical observations, and, finally in many cases, ordering diagnostic tests to rule out certain illnesses. This method is known as differential diagnosis, and it’s not an exact science by any means. But if your doctor failed to diagnose your condition or illness correctly, we can claim negligence by proving that another physician in the same specialty, under the same conditions, would have made the correct diagnosis.

A wrong diagnosis can also happen when a physician misreads the results of diagnostic tests or the tests were faulty in and of themselves. Errors involving such tests commonly include:

Misreading of X-rays by a radiologist Fault with the diagnostic equipment itself Contamination of blood or urine samples through improper handling

Serious medical conditions require not only a correct diagnosis but also one made in a timely manner. If a misdiagnosis led to cancer spreading before you were able to receive the proper treatment, we can and will hold the medical establishment accountable for its negligence.

Conversely, if your physician diagnosed a condition you were later found not to have—for example, an incorrect terminal cancer diagnosis—we can sue for the stress and mental anguish you’ve endured thinking you had only a short time to live. It’s important to contact us as soon as possible when you suspect that a wrong diagnosis has led to your injury or exacerbated your illness—you have a limited time under Florida law to file your claim. The more time we have to gather evidence and call upon our own medical experts, the better chance you have at recovering the damages you deserve.

Contact Us For Help With Your Medical Malpractice Claim

At Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A., our Jacksonville personal injury attorneys have the skills, access to medical experts and experience to handle even the most complex medical malpractice cases, including those stemming from wrong diagnoses. Contact us online or call our office today at (904) 353-5800 for a free consultation with one of our medical malpractice attorneys. There are no fees unless we succeed.*

• In some cases, clients will be asked to pay the costs associated with providing services. These costs, which will be fully explained, never include fees for a lawyer’s time.

Medical malpractice takes various forms. The following represent some of the more common types of medical malpractice:

Birth Injuries Infections resulting from treatment Improper operation of medical devices Restraint injuries Errors in blood transfusion Inaccurate x-ray readings Surgery performed on the wrong organ or limb

Surgical errors Pressure ulcers Over-medication Improper medication Failure to diagnose Delayed diagnosis