Many serious diseases like cancer are treatable when they’re caught early. If a diagnosis is delayed, there could be life and death consequences.
Our seasoned medical malpractice attorneys at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, represent patients who have suffered due to their doctor’s misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose. For decades, we have held medical professionals accountable for their serious errors and their impact on patients’ lives.
Contact a Connecticut misdiagnosis medical malpractice lawyer at our firm today. We will review your situation, and if you have a viable case, we will apply the knowledge and skills we have developed over many years to get you the compensation you deserve.
Diagnosing a disease is not always simple. Self-reported symptoms are subjective, tests might be subject to interpretation, and your age, job, family history, and personal habits influence the diseases you are likely to develop.
Medical professionals must consider all those factors, plus others that might be relevant in a specific case when deciding on a diagnosis. Sometimes, their diagnosis is incorrect. When the doctor used appropriate knowledge and skill to arrive at their diagnosis, and another doctor with similar training and experience could have reached the same conclusion, the incorrect or missed diagnosis is probably not negligent.
However, medical professionals sometimes fail to order necessary tests, do not follow up appropriately, give inadequate attention to the patient’s history, or make other careless errors. When a medical professional does not provide services of a quality that a similarly credentialed professional would have provided, they may be guilty of medical malpractice. The Connecticut misdiagnosis attorneys at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, will review your medical records and consult necessary medical experts to determine whether your medical provider failed to provide adequate care, leading to an incorrect or missed diagnosis.
You can sue your medical provider when they fail to meet the appropriate standard of care. This means that they did not provide care of a quality that you would reasonably expect of a healthcare professional with similar training and experience.
When the initial review indicates the care you received might not have been up to standard, your Connecticut misdiagnosis lawyer will send your medical records to a medical expert practicing in the same specialty as your doctor. If the expert believes the mistaken diagnosis resulted from a failure to meet a reasonable standard of care, the expert will sign a statement explaining where your physician failed. This statement, called a certificate of merit, must be filed with your lawsuit.
You must also show that the misdiagnosis caused you actual harm. If you received a correct diagnosis soon after the mistake and were treated successfully, you may not have grounds to pursue a lawsuit even though your original doctor made a dangerous error. Similarly, if an earlier diagnosis would not have resulted in a better outcome, a malpractice suit might not be viable.
If you were misdiagnosed and believe you suffered harm because of it, it is important to speak with an attorney at D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, right away. The law offers a short window of time to bring a lawsuit against a medical practitioner.
Connecticut General Statutes § 52-584 requires a patient to file a malpractice lawsuit within two years of the incident that caused the harm. In a misdiagnosis lawsuit, the clock would begin ticking when the misdiagnosis was made.
Most patients don’t learn they were misdiagnosed until later when they seek an opinion about why their symptoms persist, or their treatment isn’t working. In these cases, the clock begins running on the date the patient learned the original diagnosis was incorrect. However, this exception to the law only provides an extra year—a patient must file a lawsuit within three years of the negligent care.
An incorrect diagnosis can have severe consequences when you are suffering from a serious illness. If a doctor’s failure to correctly and timely diagnose an illness caused you significant harm, speak with a Connecticut misdiagnosis medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.
At D’Amico & Pettinicchi, LLC, our attorneys have a track record of success that goes back decades. Initial consultations can be held in the office or remotely, and they are always free. Call today to discuss your legal options.
