Unless you’ve worked in healthcare or have been unfortunate enough to experience it from the inside, you probably don’t think too much about medical misdiagnosis. In fact, many of us are likely to think that it is something that only happens in movies or television shows, and not things that actually happen in real life. However, this could not be further from the truth. Medical misdiagnosis occurs when a health care professional makes an incorrect diagnosis. This can happen for many reasons – some understandable and some not so much – but the end result is always the same: It can lead to serious consequences that include everything from ineffective treatment and unnecessary surgeries to unnecessary medication and paranoia about visiting doctors again.
Why Does Misdiagnosis Occur?
Typically, misdiagnosis occurs because many different factors come into play. First, doctors begin with the assumption that you are telling them the truth about your symptoms and the circumstances relating to your visit. This means that if you have not been completely truthful, you could be misdiagnosed as a result. Another possibility is that you were not thorough when explaining your symptoms to the doctor. You might have been nervous and left out important details, or forgotten to provide certain information, which could also lead to misdiagnosis. Lastly, misdiagnosis can be the result of a careless medical professional.
How To Know If You’ve Been Misdiagnosed
The best way to know if you’ve been misdiagnosed is to find out the statistics for your particular disease. That may sound silly, but diseases have different rates of misdiagnosis, as well as different symptoms. For example, breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as fibrocystic breast disease. That means that if you have been diagnosed with fibrocystic breast disease, you need to make sure that you are monitoring your symptoms carefully, and you may want to consider getting a second opinion. You may also want to consider asking the doctor if there is a chance you might have been misdiagnosed.
Steps To Take If You Think You’ve Been Misdiagnosed
The first thing you need to do if you think you’ve been misdiagnosed is to report it. This is especially important if the misdiagnosis resulted in an incorrect treatment plan. For example, say you have been diagnosed with a bacterial infection, but you actually have a viral infection. If you are prescribed antibiotics, they will not be effective and this could lead to a worsening of your symptoms or even a secondary infection. You can report the misdiagnosis either to your doctor or to someone at your local hospital’s medical board. You don’t need to be specific or even explain why you think you were misdiagnosed – just report that it happened. You may want to consult a trusted medial professional such as Dr. Hanid Audish to continue your journey towards proper diagnosis. If you want to take things a step further, you could also consider contacting a medical malpractice attorney.
Bottom line
Misdiagnosis can happen to anyone, and it may seem like something out of a scary story, but it’s important to know that it is very real. You should be vigilant about your health, and you should also be critical of any diagnosis that you receive from a doctor. If you think that you have been misdiagnosed, you need to report it to your doctor. You can also contact your local medical board. And if you want to take it a step further, you could consider contacting a medical malpractice attorney.