Medical law question

[BR3W CITY]

I'm not to the point of calling a lawyer yet, but I'm curious if anyone knows or has had experience with medical suits.

If you were to see a specialist by referall for a problem, and that doctor steered you in a direction AWAY from correct diagnosis and treatment...and it was later found (by a 2nd or 3rd opinion and procedure) that that condition did exist, is the doctor at all responsible?

I understand the wording may be convoluted. Basically, if there was reason to believe a specific problem existed, and the doctor steered you in a direction away from further investigation or treatment of that problem, is the doctor at all libel for extra incurred medical expense/pain/suffering etc?

[Prince Valiant]

Basically if it can be shown that the Doctor actions did not meet the standard of care for medicine, and that failure to do so caused you further harm, AND that harm caused you damages, then you probably have a case.

[FoxStang]

Liable is the word your looking for, unless he's slamming "extra incurred medial expense..." and that bothers you ;). If he/she somehow broke a duty of due care to you then you would have a cause of action with regards to negligence, although the burden of proof is on you. If however he/she performed to the best of his/her ability, and simply did not find anything conclusive, you wouldn't have much to go on.

Though this is barring "res ipsa Loquitur" type cases, then the burden of proof is on them. These are usually quite a far shot.

[Yooformula]

If you were to see a specialist by referall for a problem, and that doctor steered you in a direction AWAY from correct diagnosis and treatment...and it was later found (by a 2nd or 3rd opinion and procedure) that that condition did exist, is the doctor at all responsible

EVERY possible medical malpractice issue is different and only a good lawyer will give you any hint. Like fox said, LIABLE is going to be key and proving it is another story. My situation was VERY similar but in the end a few words written in my file but not told to me made the difference in letting a retarded doctor go off the hook.

[Reverend Cooper]

go see a medical malpractice lawyer

[kirks5oh]

I'm not to the point of calling a lawyer yet, but I'm curious if anyone knows or has had experience with medical suits.

If you were to see a specialist by referall for a problem, and that doctor steered you in a direction AWAY from correct diagnosis and treatment...and it was later found (by a 2nd or 3rd opinion and procedure) that that condition did exist, is the doctor at all responsible?

I understand the wording may be convoluted. Basically, if there was reason to believe a specific problem existed, and the doctor steered you in a direction away from further investigation or treatment of that problem, is the doctor at all libel for extra incurred medical expense/pain/suffering etc?


you'd have to prove that he/she did not meet the standard of care, and/or deliberately misdiagnosed you. medicine is a practice---not everyone follows the textbooks when it comes to signs/symptoms of a particular disease. making the correct diagnosis for certain diseases can be very, very difficult---its not like they hook you up to a diagnostic code reader that spits out the answer. this is exactly why less people are getting into the medical field. so many people are looking to win 'the great american lottery' of malpractice suits

unless you feel the physician purposely steered you in the wrong direction, my advice is to move on. and unless you give up more specific information, i cannot help you with how difficult the condition is to diagnose and/or what your chances are at making money, from what may not end up being a mistake on the physician's part.

[BR3W CITY]

Ok basically I have a recurring Acid Reflux condition, that has caused damage to my esophagus. I first saw an ENT who said "reflux, see a GI". Saw a GI and he set me up for an endoscopy to check for damage. Due to the cost and invasiveness, I decided to seek a second opinion. The second ENT was told the "reflux" diagnosis, and told I wanted to confirm before undergoing the procedure. He did an laryngoscopy and told me "the problem is NOT reflux, see our Allergist". I had to cancel my endoscopy based on his diagnosis and then incur the cost of seeing the allergist, including 4-5 tests and xrays etc. He had 0 results from these tests and wanted to schedule even more.

Now even more frustrated I contacted my general prac. for advice on how to manage all these "specialists". He did a quick evaluation and said that the GI was right based on symptoms, so I took his referall and this time had the endoscopy. The results proved I did have a serious issue with reflux and do have esophagus damage, and the longer it goes the worse it can get.

The reason for all of this is I want to know if the doctor who steered me the WRONG way, and caused me to incur extra expense and delay proper treatment of a degenerating condition, may be liable.

[Yooformula]

wow that sucks! I hope in the meantime you have made changes to your diet to help curb the reflux while the peanut gallery decides what to do.

[kirks5oh]

Ok basically I have a recurring Acid Reflux condition, that has caused damage to my esophagus. I first saw an ENT who said "reflux, see a GI". Saw a GI and he set me up for an endoscopy to check for damage. Due to the cost and invasiveness, I decided to seek a second opinion. The second ENT was told the "reflux" diagnosis, and told I wanted to confirm before undergoing the procedure. He did an laryngoscopy and told me "the problem is NOT reflux, see our Allergist". I had to cancel my endoscopy based on his diagnosis and then incur the cost of seeing the allergist, including 4-5 tests and xrays etc. He had 0 results from these tests and wanted to schedule even more.

Now even more frustrated I contacted my general prac. for advice on how to manage all these "specialists". He did a quick evaluation and said that the GI was right based on symptoms, so I took his referall and this time had the endoscopy. The results proved I did have a serious issue with reflux and do have esophagus damage, and the longer it goes the worse it can get.

The reason for all of this is I want to know if the doctor who steered me the WRONG way, and caused me to incur extra expense and delay proper treatment of a degenerating condition, may be liable.

reflux is not always the easiest thing to diagnose. its likely been going on for quite some time, so even if the diagnosis was delayed up to a year, it is extremely likely that no further damage was done. this scenario happens ALL the time, that's why they call medicine a practice. reflux is very, very commonly misdiagnosed as cardiac pain, causing the patient to undergo a huge cardiac work-up, that is quite costly---there's really no way around it.

i doubt it was done maliciously. probably should have listened to the first ENT. either way, i'd move on, with the comfort of knowing that you know what's wrong, and you're being properly treated.

[BR3W CITY]

some further situations have come to light, including some issues regarding further information left out of the diagnosis. For now I'm going to leave this thread be, but i will let you guys know what happens in the coming weeks.