Failure to Diagnose Attorney
Experienced Failure to Diagnose Lawyers in Cincinnati, OH & Covington, KY
Medical misdiagnosis can take several forms, each with serious consequences for patients and their families. A provider may incorrectly identify an illness or injury, which can lead to improper treatment or no treatment at all. In other cases, the harm comes from a failure to diagnose or a delay in diagnosis, where a medical condition goes untreated for too long, and the patient loses valuable time for care. A diagnostic error may also occur when no diagnosis is made, leaving a patient without guidance, treatment, or follow-up.
If you or a loved one suffered injury, illness, or death due to a diagnostic error, speaking with experienced failure to diagnose attorneys as soon as possible matters. The Northern Kentucky, Cincinnati, & Dayton medical malpractice lawyers at Lawrence, Beirne & Lewis handle claims involving failure to diagnose or a delay in diagnosis and other forms of medical negligence. Our legal team understands how these cases affect real lives and works to hold providers accountable for preventable harm.
Contact LBL today to speak with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer and learn how we can help with a medical misdiagnosis claim. You can reach our Ohio or Kentucky office toll-free at (800) 698-4054 or by reaching out online to discuss your situation during a free consultation.
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What is Failure to Diagnose?
Failure to diagnose occurs when medical professionals fail to identify a condition in a timely manner, leading to delayed or improper care. A failed diagnosis may involve missed symptoms, misread test results, or a breakdown in communication during evaluation. These diagnostic errors can allow an illness or injury to worsen, reduce treatment options, or cause avoidable harm.
When providers do not act on warning signs or follow accepted standards, patients may have grounds for a failure to diagnose lawsuit to seek accountability and compensation.
Failure to Diagnose vs. Delayed Diagnosis vs. Misdiagnosis
Each of these terms describe different diagnostic errors, but each can cause serious harm to patients.
- Failure to diagnose happens when a provider does not identify a medical condition at all. When medical professionals fail to recognize symptoms or order appropriate testing, the patient may receive no treatment, and the condition may worsen.
- Delayed diagnosis occurs when a provider identifies the condition but does not do so soon enough to prevent harm. A doctor may overlook symptoms and fail to promptly diagnose a serious illness, which can limit treatment options and affect long-term outcomes.
- Misdiagnosis involves an incorrect diagnosis. This is when the healthcare provider identifies the wrong condition, which can lead to improper treatment or unnecessary procedures.
In any of these cases, an experienced wrong diagnosis lawyer at Lawrence, Beirne & Lewis can help determine whether the error meets the legal standards for a claim. Our medical malpractice law firm will get straight to work reviewing medical records, timelines, and provider actions to determine whether an incorrect diagnosis, delay, or complete failure to diagnose violated accepted standards of care.
Is Failure to Diagnose Malpractice?
Yes, failure to diagnose can qualify as medical malpractice when a medical professional’s failure to properly evaluate a patient’s symptoms leads to harm.
Medical malpractice occurs when a provider does not meet the accepted standard of care and that mistake causes injury, worsening illness, or death. This may include ignoring warning signs, failing to order appropriate tests, or misreading diagnostic results.
In other words, to be considered medical malpractice, it must be proven that the provider’s actions directly caused patient harm. When a missed or delayed diagnosis changes treatment options or allows a condition to progress, the medical professional’s failure may form the basis of a valid claim.
Common Types of Failure to Diagnose Claims
Failure to diagnose claims vary based on the patient’s condition, the symptoms presented, and how the medical team responded. These cases require careful review of records, timelines, and diagnostic decisions to determine where care fell short.
At Lawrence, Beirne & Lewis, our attorneys handle a wide range of failure to diagnose claims involving missed warning signs, incomplete evaluations, or improper use of diagnostic tests. Common examples include:
- Missed heart attack or heart disease, where chest pain was dismissed or proper imaging and blood tests were not ordered
- Failure to diagnose stroke or pulmonary embolism, including cases involving deep vein thrombosis that later progressed
- Failure to diagnose transient ischemic attacks, which serve as early indicators of stroke
- Failure to diagnose appendicitis, when abdominal pain was misattributed to minor conditions
- Failure to diagnose heart arrhythmias, leading to preventable cardiac events
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosed infections, including hospital-acquired infections that were not treated promptly
- Failure to diagnose aortic aneurysms, often due to overlooked imaging tests
- Failure to diagnose pneumonia, especially in older adults or immunocompromised patients
- Failure to diagnose cancer, including delayed diagnosis caused by misread scans or ignored symptoms
- Failure to diagnose breast cancer or lung cancer when providers did not act on abnormal findings or failed to order follow-up testing
- Misdiagnosed or delayed ovarian cancer diagnosis, where vague symptoms such as abdominal pain were not fully investigated
- Failure to diagnose sepsis, meningitis, or other serious infections, despite clear clinical signs
- Failure to diagnose jaundice, which can signal liver disease or cancer
- Failure to diagnose bowel obstructions, resulting in severe complications
These cases frequently involve breakdowns in how diagnostic tests were selected, reviewed, or followed up. Whether the issue involved imaging tests, blood tests, or a lack of coordination among the medical staff, LBL works to identify how the failure occurred and pursue accountability when a timely diagnosis would have changed the outcome.
Pregnancy and Childbirth Injuries Caused By Failure to Diagnose Medical Negligence
Pregnancy and childbirth involve rapidly changing conditions that require close monitoring and fast decision-making. Medical emergencies can arise without warning, and a physician’s failure to recognize symptoms or respond appropriately can place both mother and child at risk.
When a healthcare provider reaches the wrong diagnosis or delays critical care, serious injuries may occur during labor, delivery, or the postpartum period. These may include (but are not limited to):
- Brain injuries caused by untreated fetal distress or lack of oxygen
- Cerebral palsy linked to delayed recognition of oxygen deprivation
- Shoulder dystocia injuries resulting from failure to identify delivery risks
- Brachial plexus injuries, including Erb’s palsy, due to delayed intervention
- Birth asphyxia caused by missed signs of umbilical cord compression
- Maternal hemorrhage from undiagnosed placental complications
- Infections passed to the baby because maternal infection was not identified
- Preterm birth injuries tied to failure to diagnose preeclampsia or infection
- Stillbirth or neonatal death resulting from missed medical emergencies
At Lawrence, Beirne & Lewis, our Kentucky and Ohio birth injury attorneys can review medical records to determine whether medical negligence played a role and whether accepted standards of care were not met.
Common Causes of Failure to Diagnose Lawsuits
Failure to diagnose lawsuits arise when breakdowns occur at any stage of the diagnostic process. These errors can involve testing, evaluation, or communication, and they place patients at serious risk when conditions go untreated:
- Incorrect test results, caused by malfunctioning equipment, improper testing procedures, or human error
- Misreading scans, such as X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs that show clear warning signs
- Misinterpreting test results, including lab findings that should have prompted further care
- Inexperience, where a provider lacks sufficient training to recognize symptoms or patterns
- Insufficient medical knowledge, when a health care provider is not familiar with a specific condition or applies medical knowledge incorrectly
- Incomplete understanding of a patient’s medical history, leading to missed risk factors or warning signs
- Lack of follow-up, including missed follow-up appointments, delayed referrals, or failure to order additional tests when symptoms persist
What Happens if a Doctor Misdiagnosed You?
Doctors, like all professionals, can make mistakes, and a missed diagnosis alone does not automatically mean malpractice. The best way to prove that a doctor committed medical malpractice through misdiagnosis is to examine their differential diagnosis method.
Most physicians rely on a differential diagnosis to evaluate a patient’s health condition. This process involves listing likely diagnoses, reviewing medical history, assessing symptoms, performing physical exams, and ordering tests or scans. As results come in, the doctor rules out or adds possibilities. When this process works correctly, it helps avoid unnecessary treatment and ensures the patient receives appropriate care. When it doesn’t, it can lead to delayed or unnecessary treatment, severe pain, and worsening of the patient’s injury or health condition.
In a medical malpractice claim, a medical expert must examine the doctor’s differential diagnosis method. The doctor’s negligence can likely be proven if this expert doesn’t see the correct diagnosis listed at all (and it’s clear that a competent doctor should’ve listed that diagnosis at some point) or the doctor listed the diagnosis but failed to run the appropriate tests/scans.
How a Missed Diagnosis Can Impact a Patient’s Life
A failed diagnosis can change the course of a person’s health and well-being forever, not to mention that of their family and loved ones. When certain medical conditions go untreated for too long, the lack of prompt treatment may allow the illness or injury to progress, increasing the risk of severe injury and long-term complications. Many patients face painful treatments that could have been avoided if the condition had been identified earlier.
Beyond the physical effects, a missed diagnosis can lead to emotional distress and ongoing uncertainty about the future. Patients and families may struggle with anxiety, loss of independence, and reduced quality of life while coping with preventable harm.
There are also serious financial consequences. Worsening conditions frequently require additional medical care, extended recovery time, or long-term treatment, which can result in lost income and mounting expenses. A failure to diagnose lawyer at an experienced medical malpractice law firm like LBL can evaluate whether the delay in care contributed to these losses and help patients pursue accountability for the harm they suffered.
Legal Options for Victims of Failure to Diagnose
Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit allows injured patients and their families to seek accountability when a delayed or missed diagnosis causes harm. The failure to diagnose lawsuit settlement or court award works to provide financial compensation for losses and damages like medical expenses for additional treatment, pain and suffering, and lost wages caused by time away from work or long-term impairment.
Time limits do apply to these cases. Both Ohio and Kentucky have statutes of limitations that restrict how long a patient has to file a claim. Because these deadlines can vary based on the facts of the case, speaking with medical malpractice attorneys as soon as possible helps protect your right to seek compensation.
How To Prove Failure to Diagnose in Ohio and Kentucky
To prove failure to diagnose in Ohio and Kentucky, a misdiagnosis attorney must establish several key elements in a medical malpractice case:
- A doctor-patient relationship existed
- The doctor failed to meet the applicable standard of care through a misdiagnosis or improper treatment (aka breach of duty)
- The doctor’s negligence directly caused serious harm or death to the patient
Our failure to diagnose attorneys rely on qualified expert witnesses to support these claims. These experts are experienced health care providers with knowledge in the relevant medical area. The expert witness must also show how a competent provider would have reached a correct diagnosis and provided appropriate treatment under the same circumstances. Finally, the expert explains how the misdiagnosis and delayed treatment caused the patient’s suffering, worsening condition, or death.
The Foundation of a Failure to Diagnose Medical Condition Lawsuit
A medical malpractice claim follows a structured process, and understanding the basic stages can help set expectations. The case begins with discovery, where both the injured patient and the healthcare professional work with their attorneys to gather medical records, testimony, and other evidence.
Next, qualified medical experts review the care at issue and provide opinions on whether the doctor met the accepted standard of care. Their testimony focuses on whether a proper diagnosis should have been made and whether the actions (or inactions) of the medical provider caused harm.
The final stage involves resolution, either through settlement or trial. Many medical malpractice cases resolve through settlement once the evidence shows a failure to diagnose or another breach of care. Some cases proceed to trial, where a judge or jury determines liability and whether compensation is owed to the patient or family.
Failure to Diagnose / Delayed Diagnosis Malpractice Settlement
If a physician fails to diagnose a patient and both legal teams can reach a settlement outside of court, the exact amount of compensation will vary based on a number of different factors. This includes variables such as:
- The amount of medical bills related to the misdiagnosed medical condition
- The severity of the injuries
- Whether or not the patient died as a result of the doctor’s failure to diagnose
- Whether or not the patient can still work after their medical injuries
- Lost wages
- Medical malpractice damage cap for a specific state
- Pain and suffering
The average settlement amount for medical malpractice cases in the U.S. generally varies between $300,000 to $500,000, with some cases reaching millions. It’s important to note that some states have settlement caps for medical malpractice cases. Kentucky doesn’t have a cap, but Ohio does. According to the Ohio Revised Code Chapter 2323.43, the cap is:
- $250,000,
- Or three times the patient’s economic damages;
- No more than $350,000 per patient,
- And no more than $500,000 for each case if there’s more than 1 patient.
Why You Need an Attorney for Misdiagnosis, Failure to Diagnose, and Delayed Diagnosis Claims
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis claims require more than showing a medical mistake. Proving a failure to diagnose case demands extensive medical and legal knowledge, along with a clear understanding of the legal process. At Lawrence, Beirne & Lewis, we know how to evaluate complex records, timelines, and standards of care to determine whether negligence occurred.
Our experienced Ohio and Kentucky medical malpractice attorneys work closely with a nurse attorney on staff and consult qualified medical professionals to review each case. This team approach helps identify where care broke down and strengthens the claim. With experienced legal guidance, patients and families can pursue maximum compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses tied to an illness or injury that should have been prevented with proper medical care.
For Compassionate & Experienced Representation From Greater Cincinnati Area Medical Malpractice Attorneys, Contact LBL Today
If you believe a doctor’s mistake caused serious harm, speaking with a qualified misdiagnosis lawyer matters. The medical malpractice lawyers in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky at Lawrence, Beirne & Lewis focus on clear guidance, responsive communication, and strong advocacy in every case we handle. Our team values each attorney-client relationship and works to pursue fair compensation for victims of medical malpractice.
We proudly serve clients throughout Ohio and Kentucky and offer a free consultation to discuss your situation. Contact our Covington office at (859) 578-9130, our Cincinnati office at (513) 651-4130, or call toll-free at (800) 698-4054 to speak with our team today.