Misinterpreted Examination or Test Results - A&E Negligence

Misinterpreted Examination or Test Results – A&E Negligence

Even when the correct procedures have been followed and suitable tests have been taken, if the results are misread, or misinterpreted, the choice of treatment might be inappropriate and further damage could be done to the patient’s health.

Negligence caused by incorrectly interpreting test results, also referred to diagnostic error negligence, is more common than you might think. In order to prove this type of negligence has occurred it will need to be proved that the doctor, nurse or medical practitioner was negligent in their incorrect interpretation of test results and that their actions caused you harm. However, it is not as simple as it might seem, as even the most experienced doctors can make an incorrect diagnosis even when they have taken great care not to do so.

Accepted practice involves evaluating and assessing the patient’s symptoms to create a list of the most likely causes, then testing these theories in order, discarding specific causes as tests or diagnostic evaluations rule them out, leaving them with the most likely cause.
Did the doctors look into all of the possibilities, or did they jump to a conclusion early on, without fully considering all possibilities? If needs be we will employ medical specialists to delve right into the details of how decisions were made, and whether other doctors would have made a similar decision.

Patients can sue for negligence if the medical team misinterpret any medical data from tests, biopsies or even scan results, and these issues are more common than you’d like to think; according to the UK National Heart Attack Register, almost one third of patients had an initial diagnosis that was different to their final diagnosis. When it comes to cancer, the figures are quite scary – over the past few years the NHS has paid out nearly £50 million to over 500 patients whose cancer was misdiagnosed, among over 5,000 other cases of misdiagnosis, many of which occurred as a result of incorrect interpretation of exam or test results.

If you or someone you care for has suffered as a result of doctors or medics failing to interpret test results correctly, it is likely that you too could make a claim for compensation. Whether it has led to a delay in your treatment or allowed further complications to develop, these mistakes should not have been made, and if you have suffered as a result, then a compensation pay-out can go some way to help with changes you may have had to have made to your life and work. Contact us today and let us see how we can help you get the pay-out you deserve.