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Failure to Diagnose Attorney in Omaha

If Your Doctor Failed to Diagnose Your Condition, You May Have a Legal Claim

When it comes to our health, we place a great deal of trust in the experience and education of our physicians. But what happens when that trust is broken by a medical professional who fails to diagnose a serious condition?

Most patients have no idea how to process the long-term health implications that this mistake has set into action. On these occasions, the professional guidance of an Omaha medical malpractice lawyer can be critical. Bottlinger Law L.L.C. will review your case, and may be able to assist you in securing compensation for the substandard medical care you received. Call (402) 505-8234 to learn more about your rights.

What Is a Failure to Diagnose?

Doctors are human and aren’t expected to be familiar with every medical possibility, but there is a standardized process for a doctor to evaluate a patient and determine what illness or condition the patient is suffering from. "Differential diagnosis" is basically a process of elimination. Tests are used to eliminate as many causes as possible to determine the actual cause of the illness or condition. This is standard practice and is used by a majority of medical professionals.

When a doctor fails to act in a manner that another prudent doctor would in the same situation, that counts as negligence – a breach in the accepted standard of care. Some examples of straying from normal processes can include:

  • Not performing standard diagnostic tests for a given complaint
  • Misreading or misunderstanding the results of a diagnostic test
  • Failing to evaluate the patient for all possible causes of a condition
  • Failing to evaluate and consider the patient's full medical history
  • Improper application of testing
  • Failing to convey test results to the patient

All of these acts could constitute grounds for a failure to diagnose lawsuit in the State of Nebraska.

Proving Medical Malpractice in Nebraska

To be successful in a medical malpractice lawsuit, you have to prove three elements:

  1. A doctor-patient relationship existed.
  2. The failure to diagnose arose from the doctor's negligence.
  3. The patient suffered harm as a direct result of the failure to diagnose.

Proof that the missed diagnosis caused harm is a critical factor in these claims. With today’s medical advances, a few months of treatment at the early onset of disease such as cancer can increase the patient's survival rate. Often times, patients who are facing a terminal illness do not understand that they have a right to compensation for a delay in diagnosing this illness. If early treatment could have afforded the patient a longer life, there was damage caused by the failure to diagnose.

Call an Omaha Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you or a loved one has suffered because of a doctor’s failure to diagnose, you could have the right to compensation. The best way to determine if you have a case is to call (402) 505-8234 today to schedule a free consultation with Bottlinger Law L.L.C. Our personal injury attorney can evaluate your situation and explain your legal options. Even when time is short, compensation can be a great assistance in providing the care a patient needs and peace of mind for their loved ones.

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