Defending against misdiagnosis claims

When things go wrong, it may be natural for us to look for someone to blame. And when things go seriously wrong, we may want to take action against the person we think is at fault.

So, it’s understandable that, when a patient finds out that their condition was misdiagnosed, they want to blame the doctor. And it may be understandable that they want to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against that doctor in order to help pay for their medical bills.

But the question in a misdiagnosis-based medical malpractice case isn’t just “Was the diagnosis incorrect?”  Doctors are not omniscient, and so they cannot always immediately know exactly what is going on in a patient’s body. That’s why a more important question in a medical malpractice case is “Did the doctor’s care fall short of professional standards?”

Some statistics to consider

According to a 2022 study from National Institutes of Health, 1 out of 3 health care providers is subjected to a medical malpractice lawsuit during their careers.

Does this mean 1 out of 3 health care providers has committed malpractice? No. Many medical malpractice claims are unsupported by good evidence. Most of these claims are later dropped. Some go to trial, where they lost. According to one study, between 80% and 90% of these cases with weak evidence that go before a jury end with a verdict in favor of the doctor.

Now here’s one more statistic to consider: Of the medical malpractice claims that end with a verdict or settlement for the plaintiff, nearly 97% are settled out of court. It’s common for out-of-court settlements to have a confidentiality clause, so it’s hard for any researchers to determine whether the claims in these cases actually had merit. In some, the doctors or their insurance providers may have simply decided to pay a settlement rather than go through the expense and disruption of a trial.