Your health condition may be more challenging to diagnose if you are experiencing symptoms that are commonly associated with or overlap with other ailments. Or, it may be extremely rare, with minimal research done or technology invented for treating it. Given these circumstances, your doctor’s failure to diagnose your condition correctly or promptly may be more understandable. However, if these excuses cannot be applied to your health condition, then please read on to discover whether you have a valid lawsuit on your hands and how a seasoned Miami medical malpractice lawyer at the Law Offices of Gonzalo Funes, PA can help work on your legal strategy for this.

How might a doctor fail to diagnose a serious health condition?

In short, your treating doctor may have executed careless medical care, which resulted in their failure to properly diagnose and rapidly treat your serious health condition. Below are specific examples of when your doctor may be at fault for your misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis:

  • Your doctor may have rushed through your appointment and dismissed your expressed symptoms as nothing.
  • Your doctor may have done an inadequate review of your medical history before concluding that you are fine.
  • Your doctor may have failed to order proper testing before diagnosing you (i.e., labs, imaging, biopsies, etc).
  • Your doctor may have failed to refer you to a specialist to help them reach an accurate medical diagnosis.
  • Your doctor may have misread or failed to follow up on abnormalities in your medical test results.

Do I have a valid medical malpractice case if my doctor failed to diagnose my condition?

If you believe your doctor engaged in any of the aforementioned reckless actions when providing you with medical care, you may have a valid medical malpractice case on your hands. More specifically, before the Florida civil court, you may have to prove that the following circumstances are true:

  • You had a doctor-patient relationship with the defendant, and they thereby owed you a duty of care.
  • The defendant breached their duty of care by failing to meet the standard of care established in their specialty field.
  • The defendant’s breach of duty caused them to misdiagnose your condition or diagnose your condition too late.
  • The misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis caused you to suffer additional or extended health complications.
  • Your additional or extended health complications caused you to incur serious economic and non-economic damages.

And so, with a successful case, you may be able to recover the cost of your additional medical bills needed to correct your initial doctor’s mistakes (i.e., emergency hospital stays, corrective surgeries, medications and treatment therapies, etc). But also, you may hold them accountable for the unnecessary physical pain and emotional trauma they put you through because of this.

We strongly urge you to call our office and schedule your initial consultation with us at your earliest possible convenience. A competent Miami-Dade County injury lawyer at the Law Offices of Gonzalo Funes, PA is ready and willing to hear you out and take on your legal case.