Have you been misdiagnosed by a health-care professional? If so, you might have a malpractice case against the person or institution involved. Malpractice law is complex, however, so it's important to learn as much as you can about it before taking action. This article examines some of the key aspects concerning legal claims due to a medical misdiagnosis.

Prove Malpractice

To win a legal case involving a misdiagnosis, you have to prove that not only were you misdiagnosed, but that medical malpractice occurred. There are four elements to proving your misdiagnosis rises to the level of malpractice, according to the law. You must show that a doctor-patient relationship existed between you the physician. You must show that the doctor did not offer an acceptable level of care as well.

You must also prove that you were harmed and suffered damages as a result of the misdiagnoses.

Hospital

You can sue a health-care professional for a misdiagnosis if certain conditions are met, but what if the misdiagnoses occurred in a hospital? Can you sue the hospital in addition to the physician? This usually depends on the relationship between the medical facility and the doctor. Whether or not the doctor is employed by the hospital, as opposed to being an independent contractor working in the facility, is the key question.

If the doctor is an employee, then you can most likely name the hospital in a lawsuit. If he is not, then the law will probably not allow it.

Delayed Diagnosis

In addition to being harmed by a misdiagnosis, you can also suffer serious harm from a delayed diagnosis. For example, if you are given a test for a particular type of cancer and the health-care professional did not read the results properly, this could lead to your cancer being discovered much later than it otherwise would have been.

The delay in the correct diagnosis would result in your receiving treatment only after the cancer had become more advanced. In such a case, you almost certainly would have a compelling lawsuit against the person or persons responsible for the diagnosis being delayed, as your survival chances could easily have decreased as a result of their negligence.

Determining if your misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis qualifies a medical malpractice is not easy for the average person to ascertain. The laws are complicated and can vary from state to state. If you think you have a good case, talk with a medical malpractice lawyer in your area to learn more.

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