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For a free medical malpractice case evaluation, contact Siegfried & Jensen today. Our medical negligence attorneys in the Salt Lake City, Utah area provide exceptional legal representation.
Siegfried & Jensen
5664 South Green St.
Murray, Utah 84123
Phone: 1-866-883-5350
Fax: 1-801-266-1338
Correctly diagnosing a disease can mean the difference between life and death. Healthcare providers are entrusted with the responsibility of regularly screening at-risk patients for disease and making thorough investigations into their conditions when symptoms arise. Failing to diagnose a patient with an illness such as cancer or heart disease or diagnosing a patient with the wrong disease can result in irreparable damage or early death. If you or someone you love has suffered harm due to a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose, or if a loved one has suffered wrongful death, our medical negligence attorneys in the Salt Lake City, Utah area can help you receive fair and just compensation.
When a patient presents his or her doctor with symptoms that do not suggest an obvious diagnosis, it is the doctor’s responsibility to devote all appropriate resources to investigating the patient’s condition. A thorough investigation might include examining or updating the patient’s medical history, conducting extensive physical examinations, testing blood and tissue samples, and referring the patient to a specialist when appropriate. More advanced testing such as a CT scan or an ultrasound may also be necessary depending on the symptoms presented and the possible causes.
The doctor should initially make a differential diagnosis (a list of possible causes) and through testing eliminate each cause one by one until deducing the most likely cause for the patient's symptoms. The accepted standard of care for diagnosing the patient should be followed throughout the entire diagnostic process.
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When a doctor fails to follow the appropriate standard of care during the diagnostic process and the undiagnosed disease progresses, the patient very often suffers undue harm. Early detection enables the patient to receive early treatment and thus increases the chances of improving or eradicating the condition. Since the patient’s survival may hinge on this early detection, the failure to diagnose the disease in a timely manner can have a drastic impact on the patient’s life. When doctors fail in this way, the patient and the patient’s family suffer substantial losses physically, emotionally, and financially. Breast cancer, colon cancer, and heart disease are among the most common diseases to go undetected because of diagnostic errors. The medical negligence attorneys of Siegfried & Jensen are dedicated to helping such victims in Salt Lake City and other areas throughout Utah.
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Doctors sometimes make diagnostic assumptions about a patient's condition, failing to correctly diagnose an illness to the patient's detriment. A misdiagnosis can lead to improper treatment, while denying the patient the treatment he or she actually needs. Under such circumstances the patient's condition may progress, and additionally, he or she may also be subjected to treatments that can cause permanent injuries, disfigurement, or death.
Patients who have been misdiagnosed oftentimes undergo unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or other risky treatments with serious potential side effects. Doctors may administer unnecessary medication or subject these patients to series of uncomfortable, and potentially detrimental tests. Among the conditions most commonly misdiagnosed are:
While misdiagnoses are often the result of a doctor's carelessness or inadequate training, medical insurers can also present obstacles in the diagnostic process, limiting the doctor's ability to order comprehensive testing. Oftentimes, from the perspective of insurance companies, patient safety is secondary to regulating the cost of medical testing. In such cases, our medical negligence attorneys in the Salt Lake City , Utah area may develop a case against your medical insurance provider.
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Misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose cases are usually quite complex and difficult to prove. Therefore, you need an experienced team of medical negligence attorneys to analyze the facts in your case. In Salt Lake City and throughout Utah, the law firm of Siegfried & Jensen has been successfully handling all types of misdiagnosis cases for more than 15 years. If you or a loved one has been harmed by a failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible to ensure the best possible outcome in you case. For a free case evaluation, contact Siegfried & Jensen today.
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