Delayed Diagnosis, Misdiagnosis, Failure to Diagnose

A young girl, Shayna, goes to the hospital due to back pain and a loss of sensation in her legs.  She is hospitalized and has an MRI done of her spine.  Although the MRI shows an abnormal mass on her spine, she is misdiagnosed and her doctors tell Shayna that her spine looks normal. 

Four years pass and Shayna is seven months pregnant with her first child.  Upon waking one morning, she finds that she is unable to move her legs.  She is taken to the hospital and receives an MRI.  This time the doctors confirm a large abnormal mass on her spine, the same one that her previous doctors had failed to diagnose four years previously and had since grown.  Surgeons removed the mass from Shayna's spine but it was too late to prevent paralysis.  She gave birth to her child two months later and remains a paraplegic.  

The above scenario is based on a true story and gives a great example of the harm that can come from a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose situation.  Medical malpractice cases result from a vast variety of negligent or careless mistakes from doctors, nurses, or a medical center.  A failure to diagnose can cause irreparable damage and future medical care that otherwise would have not occurred.  

Delayed or misdiagnosis can occur in many situation.

• Misdiagnosis of cancer Skin cancers, Sarcoma, breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and all types of cancers get worse over time. A cancer misdiagnosis means no treatment and the cancer spreads and grows. If the cancer is diagnosed later, it can possibly be too late for meaningful treatment.


• Heart attack and/or stroke misdiagnosis Misdiagnosis of a heart attack or strok can most assuredly cause death and/or paralysis. Brain injury can also occur if these types if misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis are made.


• X-Ray Misdiagnosis When Xrays are misread they can lead to tumors, cancer and other maladies. Broken bones can fester and turn to infection. Brain illnesses like meningitis relay on good xrays, MRI’s and brain scans to heal.


• Head injury misdiagnosis. Should a subdural hematoma, concussion or aneurysm be misdiagnosed as a headache or anything other than what it is and the patient is not given treatment, the result can be permanent disability, paralysis or death.


• Infection misdiagnosis. Infection that is not properly diagnosed can result in amputation of an infected limb.


• Meningitis misdiagnosis. When doctors misread symptoms and fails to order the appropriate tests, meningitis can be misdiagnosed as simply a case of flu. The result of such a missed diagnosis is often wrongful death.

As hard as it is to believe that delayed diagnosis cases still take place in this day and age, it is true. Consider the case of Rial v. Regents of the University of California, Orange County Superior Court. A man’s son died as a result of extremely progressed sepsis, a bacterial infection in the bloodstream, following his first chemotherapy treatment.

These cases can be won and the victim or the family is able to resume a life as close to normal as possible. In order to do so, you must contact Moseley Collins law firm as soon as possible to avoid statute of limitation problems and find all the available evidence needed to present a successful case.

If you or a loved one have received a misdiagnosis by a medical provider and have experienced an injury as a result, please call Moseley Collins.  Moseley Collins specializes in winning medical malpractice cases in the cities of Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Palm Springs.  He has over 40 years of experience and has recently won a medical malpractice case that resulted in the largest settlement of its kind in the history of California.  Call Moseley today for help.

Moseley Collins
980 9th St, 16th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

Phone: (916) 444-4444

https://www.moseleycollins.com/