Misdiagnosis - Understanding Diagnosis - 1
When people feel ill and go to see their doctor, they usually trust that the doctor will have the training and skills necessary to provide them with the correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment for their condition. In many cases, this trust is well placed. However, sometimes a doctor inadvertently makes an incorrect diagnosis or fails to diagnose a serious condition, which may allow the actual condition to worsen or expose the patient to unneeded treatments. A missed or delayed diagnosis can create many problems for patients and may even cause long-lasting harm.
Doctors often evaluate a patient's condition using a systematic method known as “differential diagnosis.” After a preliminary evaluation, the doctor makes a list of all the possible conditions that could match the patient's symptoms, in order of their probability. The doctor reviews that patient's medical history, makes observations, and asks questions to help eliminate possible conditions from the list until, ideally, one accurate diagnosis remains.
Common types of diagnostic mistakes include:
Missed diagnosis. This happens when the doctor mistakenly determines that the patient is healthy when, in fact, he has an injury, illness, or disease.
Incorrect diagnosis. This is also known as misdiagnosis, when the doctor diagnoses the patient with the wrong illness or condition.
Delayed diagnosis. This happens when the doctor makes the appropriate diagnosis but only after a substantial amount of time has passed.
Failure to recognize complications. This occurs when the doctor makes the appropriate diagnosis but fails to recognize complications that may exacerbate the condition.
Failure to diagnose a related condition. This happens when a doctor accurately diagnoses one disease but misses a disease that goes along with the primary illness.
Failure to diagnose an unrelated condition. This happens when the doctor provides the correct diagnosis for one disease or condition but misses a second condition that's unrelated to the first.
Several research facilities have executed studies on misdiagnosed medical cases and the results may shock you. Here are some of the startling facts:
15% – the percentage of all medical cases misdiagnosed in developed countries according to The American Journal of Medicine
26% – the percentage of cases misdiagnosed according to a Mayo Clinic Proceedings study
44% – the percentage of some types of cancer misdiagnosed according to a Mayo Clinic Proceedings study
Annals of Internal Medicine found that of 300 closed malpractice claims, 59 percent involved diagnostic errors that harmed patients and 30 percent resulted in death.
The Institute of Medicine (IMO) estimates that $17 to $29 billion is spent annually on unnecessary or inaccurate patient care as a result of misdiagnosis
The annual report found that the average medical malpractice payment, made due to diagnosis related malpractice in the U.S., was $307,418 per case and 5,611 diagnostic-related medical malpractice payments were made.
