Every day, our office fields calls from potential medical malpractice claimants. Often, the complaint is that the doctor misdiagnosed the patient, and harm occurred as a result. Our experience is that misdiagnoses are common, though often they don’t reach the level of malpractice. These cases often turn on a clinician’s judgment: whether, with the evidence presented at the time, it was reasonable to choose the diagnosis or path that the doctor did.

Usually, doctors win those cases. In fact, there is a jury instruction in Washington that states a doctor is not liable if he or she makes the wrong decision, so long as the decision-making process itself was reasonable. And we all can understand the compelling argument that only with the benefit of hindsight – and the knowledge of a catastrophic outcome – could anyone have predicted what in fact happened.

Still we get those calls regularly. As a medical malpractice attorney, I understood that only people with problems with medical care would call me for advice. But I had no idea of the magnitude of this problem.

A recent study published in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety by Dr. Hardeep Singh and others estimate that doctors make misdiagnoses about 5% of the time; meaning approximately 12 million Americans are misdiagnosed every year. Wow.

Read an article written by Dr. Singh about his findings here:

[The Battle Against Misdiagnosis][1]

As mentioned above, a misdiagnosis alone does not make for a valid malpractice claim. Still, some of the potential solutions outlined in the article give a window into facts that explain how misdiagnoses can occur.

Many of us who consume health care resources, or who have loved ones who do, understand that often doctors don’t have enough time to effectively communicate with patients. Not having enough time with a patient listening to the history of their symptoms can start a doctor off on the wrong path. This is often not the doctor’s fault alone, as there are time pressures that force him or her to over-schedule patients.

Dr. Singh also cites the problems associated with moving health records to all electronic format. My partner Gene Moen recently wrote two blog posts on the subject. You can read them here:

[Technology and Patient Safety][2]

and here:

[Concerns about electronic medical records are increasing][3]

Finally, Dr. Singh puts some onus on patients themselves, which is a tactic typical in almost any medical malpractice jury trial. Patients are held to a high standard with respect to the actions and decisions they make with their own health care. Dr. Singh suggests patients take good notes from each doctor visit, and bringing that information to subsequent providers to allow for continuity of care. Because as it stands, the health care industry is dropping the ball at an alarming rate.

[1]: http://online.wsj.com/articles/hardeep-singh-the-battle-against-misdiagnosis-1407453373 “The Battle Against Misdiagnosis”
[2]: https://cmglaw.com/Blog/2014/05/Technology_and_Patient_Safety “Technology and Patient Safety”
[3]: https://cmglaw.com/Blog/2014/08/Concerns_about_electronic_medical_r “Concerns about electronic medical records are increasing”