If you have suffered from a delayed diagnosis that caused you harm, you might be left with additional medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. You might consider filing a claim against your healthcare provider. However, proving that your doctor or health care provider was negligent and caused your injury is not easy. You will need the help of a medical malpractice attorney with experience handling delayed diagnosis cases.

Understanding Delayed Diagnoses 

A delayed diagnosis is a failure to diagnose a condition promptly. A delayed diagnosis is a severe problem if the situation is life-threatening or requires urgent treatment.

How to Seek Compensation

To receive compensation for a delayed diagnosis, you must prove a few things. First, duty of care. You must show that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the health care provider who failed to diagnose your condition and that they owed you a duty of care to provide competent and reasonable medical services.

Next, you must prove a breach of duty. You must show that the physician didn't act as a reasonably prudent doctor would have in similar circumstances. This may involve showing that they did not order appropriate tests, misinterpreted test results, ignored your symptoms or medical history, or failed to refer you to a specialist.

Causation and Damages

You must show that the healthcare provider's breach of duty caused your injury or worsened your condition. This may involve showing that if you had been diagnosed earlier, you would have received different or better treatment, avoided complications, or had a better prognosis.

You must also show that you suffered actual harm due to the delayed diagnosis, such as physical pain, emotional distress, additional medical costs, lost income, reduced quality of life, or shortened life expectancy.

How a Medical Malpractice Attorney Can Help

A medical malpractice attorney can help you support your claim with medical records, expert opinions, witness statements, and other documents. They can also help you negotiate with the insurance company or the healthcare provider's lawyers and represent you in court if necessary.

A medical malpractice attorney can also advise you on the statute of limitations for filing your claim, which is the time limit within which you must file your lawsuit or lose your right to do so.

Call a medical malpractice attorney to discuss your options if you have been harmed by a delayed diagnosis. You may receive compensation and hold the responsible party accountable for their negligence.