Failure to Diagnose – How Treatable Conditions Can Have Permanent Consequences

Posted on March 04, 2015 by Shapiro Law Group

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When we go to the doctor to seek medical treatment, we place a lot of trust in our hospitals and health care workers to provide a professional quality of service. Unfortunately, hospitals can become understaffed, doctors can become overworked and assistants can be underqualified or poorly trained – leading to disastrous results that can overlook treatable illnesses and rob patients of their lives.

Failing to diagnose an illness is a common reason for medical malpractice lawsuits, and the story of a Florida woman who lost her leg when her physician missed a blood clot serves as a stark warning that it can happen to anyone. Three years after her death, the woman’s estate has been awarded $8.5 million by a jury for the amputation.

According to the suit, the woman went to a concierge physician (a concierge is a large group of physicians operating through a network, in this case over 800 physicians) for pain in her leg caused by an undetected blood clot. Instead of performing the proper tests to search for a blood clot, the physician amputated her leg below the knee, leaving her disabled for the last four years of her life.

Although the concierge of physicians has threatened to appeal, the case is unusual because it would mean if out of 800 physicians, one commits medical malpractice, then all of them could be held accountable.

Should I Hire a Medical Malpractice Attorney to Handle My Case?

Hospitals or large networks of physicians will usually fight medical malpractice claims because they are expensive and bring the organization bad press. It is important to hire an attorney with experience fighting for the average person who has been wronged by a medical institution attempting to shed its responsibility of admitting to mistakes.

Shapiro Law Group encourages our readers to visit reach out to us with their questions or find out more about who we are by visiting our Facebook and Twitter pages.

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