How to Prove a Failure-to-Diagnose Case
Successfully pursuing a failure-to-diagnose claim in Ohio requires proving that your healthcare provider’s actions fell short of the standard of care expected of them. This involves demonstrating several legal elements so as to file a valid case.
Usually, proving your case is the duty of the lawyer handling your medical malpractice case. Here is what they must establish:
A Legitimate doctor-patient relationship - To sue for medical malpractice, there has to have been a formal doctor-patient relationship. This means the healthcare provider had an obligation to offer you appropriate care.
Your Doctor Failed to act reasonably in diagnosing your condition - Diagnostic errors happen when a physician neglects to act as a reasonably competent doctor would act, given almost the same circumstances. This may include ordering the wrong tests, misinterpreting test results, or failing to investigate obvious symptoms.
The failure directly led to your harm - You must also show that the doctor’s diagnostic mistake directly caused or exacerbated your condition. Sometimes, failure-to-diagnose lawyers may seek the opinion of expert medical professionals to help connect the physician's error to the harm suffered.
You suffered economic and/or non-economic losses - Finally, you must show that the misdiagnosis resulted in tangible damages. These could easily be proved using medical bills or records of earnings missed, among others.
Handling a medical malpractice case is a complicated and high-stakes task. This is primarily because while you are trying to prove your case, hospitals, doctors, insurers, and other parties are ready to fight back against the lawsuit to avoid incurring hefty expenses. For this reason, if you believe you have a medical malpractice case based on a missed diagnosis, it is in your best interest to retain one of our Columbus, OH, failure-to-diagnose lawyers today.
