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Free ConsultationProfessional misconduct by a health care provider can lead to a patient suffering an adverse medical outcome or even experiencing life-changing physical harm. Perhaps the single most common form of medical malpractice is a doctor misidentifying the patient’s medical problem or not acknowledging that anything is wrong with them.
Misdiagnosis leads to thousands of preventable medical emergencies, which cause millions of dollars in preventable losses every year in the Commonwealth, as experienced medical malpractice attorneys know all too well. If you suffered harm from a medical provider and want to enforce your right to civil recovery for damages, a Harrisburg misdiagnosis medical malpractice lawyer from Lowenthal & Abrams will be the dependable ally you need to achieve the best possible case result.
How Can Medical Negligence Lead to a Misdiagnosis?
In some situations, a doctor’s misdiagnosis arises from a simple mistake by a medical team member who incorrectly completed the patient’s chart or failed to communicate clearly with the doctor. More often, though, this kind of malpractice primarily stems from a diagnosing physician being reckless or careless in the performance of their duties. For example, they may ignore a patient’s self-reported symptoms, fail to order a specialized test when appropriate, or assume their first conclusion about a patient’s condition is correct without following up to verify.
In these scenarios, civil litigation is possible if you can prove that you suffered harm due to an actionable violation of the standard of care owed to you by your doctors. As one of our Harrisburg misdiagnosis medical negligence attorneys can further explain, this means you must prove that your doctor directly misdiagnosed you because they failed to act the way any other doctor with similar skills and experience would have acted under the same circumstances. Per state law, you must have formal support for your conclusion from at least one qualified medical expert in the form of a “certificate of merit.”
Filing Time Limits for Misdiagnosis Malpractice Claims
In addition to fulfilling the uniquely high burden of proof imposed on you by state law, you will also need to quickly build a comprehensive civil claim if you want to succeed with a malpractice claim. Under most circumstances, prospective malpractice plaintiffs have no more than two years from the date on which malpractice against them most recently occurred to file civil suit over ensuing damages. Beyond that, the statute of limitations would bar the plaintiff from ever recovering for those specific losses.
However, the starting point for this two-year filing period can be “tolled,” or pushed back, if some time passes between when your doctor misdiagnosed you and when you actually discovered—or reasonably should have discovered—that you were harmed by that misconduct. This “discovery rule” often plays a key role in medical malpractice proceedings over misdiagnoses in Harrisburg, and a skilled lawyer can help you prove to a civil court that this rule should apply in your situation.
Contact a Harrisburg Misdiagnosis Medical Negligence Attorney for Help
Delaying treatment of a serious medical condition such as cancer for a few weeks or even days can have life-threatening repercussions. Unfortunately, delays like this sometimes happen in medical contexts, not because someone fails to seek medical help in time, but because the medical help they sought did not meet the standard of care owed to them.
If you experienced the latter situation, you may have important legal options at your disposal that a Harrisburg misdiagnosis medical malpractice lawyer can help you pursue. Call Lowenthal & Abrams today to discuss your possible case.
