What to Know Before you File a Lawsuit
Proving a failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis case means collecting records, identifying expert witnesses, filing legal papers, and going up against hospitals, their lawyers, and their own medical experts. You don’t have to fight on your own, and you shouldn’t. The attorneys at McIntyre Law have 90+ years of combined experience handling failure to diagnose cases, and we should be your first call if you think that your medical team made a mistake. We’ll guide you through the process of filing a claim every step of the way.
The Statute of Limitations for a Medical Misdiagnosis Lawsuit
Once a failed diagnosis occurs, you have a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit. The statute of limitations on your lawsuit depends on the state where you live and your specific situation. Experienced attorneys like ours can help you figure out if you’re eligible.
What is a contingency fee?
When a lawyer works on a “contingency fee” basis, they’re agreeing to accept a fixed percentage of any monetary rewards from your lawsuit to cover their legal fees. If there are no rewards from your failure to diagnose case, you don’t pay the lawyer. We get paid if, and only if, you do.
What compensation can I get from a misdiagnosis lawsuit?
If you or a family member suffers because of an incorrect or missed diagnosis, the courts will award compensation based on the specific experience and life situation of the victim. Types of compensation can include:
- Physical pain and suffering
- Emotional pain and suffering
- Medical bills
Working with McIntyre Law
Doctors care about your health. They don’t want you to suffer. But hospitals and lawyers have their eye on the bottom line. No matter how much you suffered, they will try to pay you as little as they can get away with. At McIntyre Law, we stand up for victims of failed diagnoses. We’re experienced fighting hospitals and their lawyers, and we make sure you have an ally you can trust.
Do you have a case for a failure to diagnose lawsuit?
If you or a family member suffered because your condition was misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all, talk to an experienced, trustworthy lawyer before trying to file a claim. If your doctor has failed to diagnose a condition, that doesn’t mean that you necessarily have a claim for failure to diagnose. The medical professional must have acted negligently in order for you to succeed in this kind of claim. The law allows for doctors to make mistakes, even some big ones. Therefore, in order for failure to diagnose to be the basis for a malpractice claim, experts will need to be able to testify that the physician did not treat the patient with the usual standard of care. Call us—we understand how the laws work and can explain the next best steps for you.
Meet Our Failure to Diagnose Attorneys
When you work with McIntyre Law, you’re getting an experienced team of law professionals who want to make sure you’re equally represented in your failure to diagnose lawsuit.
What is failure to diagnose?
When a doctor or provider fails to recognize a set of symptoms that indicates a serious condition, that mistake is medical negligence called failure to diagnose. The failure to diagnose a potentially fatal disease or condition can cause terrible suffering for a patient, and sometimes even death. Not every failure to diagnose warrants a lawsuit. But some of the situations that do are:
- Not referring a patient to a specialist
- Misinterpretation of lab test results
- Not investigating potential causes of symptoms that are reported
- Not properly consulting with the patient about their symptoms
- Missing a chance to screen for a particular medical condition
- Not properly following up with patient
Common Undiagnosed or Misdiagnosed Conditions
Some conditions are misdiagnosed more often than others and are more likely to warrant legal action. These conditions include, but are not limited to:
- Asthma
- Breast cancer
- Colon cancer
- Lung cancer
- Melanoma
- Heart attacks
- Lymph node inflammation
- Meningitis
- Fractures
- Fetal distress
- Staph infection
- Stroke