Published by Arfaa Law Group
Medical professionals have an obligation to be diligent when diagnosing and recommending treatment for patients. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. If you have suffered harm due to a health care provider’s misdiagnosis of your condition, the seasoned Maryland misdiagnosis attorneys at Arfaa Law Group can help. We understand how to navigate these cases and help seek the compensation our clients deserve.
A study recently released by WalletHub dubbed Maryland one of the worst states in the country for doctors. In fact, Maryland is the 7th worst state for doctors, ranking 44th out of the 51 states.
The study compared states on a number of metrics, including annual salaries, starting salaries, hospitals per capita, cost of malpractice insurance, hospital quality competition, and how much was awarded in malpractice per capita. In general, Maryland tends to have a higher cost of living, lower wages, and higher costs of malpractice insurance when compared to most other states. Other states that are in the top 10 worst states for doctors in 2018 include Illinois, California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., Hawaii, New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey.
While medical malpractice can take place in a number of ways, some types of medical malpractice claims we tend to see over and over again are misdiagnoses, medication errors, failures to obtain informed consent, surgical errors, and failures to diagnose.
Misdiagnosing a condition can lead to serious and long-term harm for a patient. There are three main categories of misdiagnosis that could give rise to a medical malpractice claim. These include false positives, when a condition that does not exist is mistakenly detected; false negatives, when an individual has a condition but testing indicates that he or she does not; and equivocal results, which lead to a lack of definitive diagnoses. A patient who does not receive a proper diagnosis cannot take the necessary next steps to get better.
If you or someone close to you has suffered adverse health consequences due to a misdiagnosis, you can likely recover damages through a Maryland medical malpractice claim. Medical malpractice is a legal concept that holds negligent medical professionals accountable for the harm they cause through a civil claim. Specifically, malpractice takes place when a health care provider causes injuries or death by failing to adhere to the generally accepted standard of care that a reasonable health care provider in the same specialty would have used in the same situation. It is important to note that just because you suffered an unfavorable outcome, that does not necessarily mean malpractice occurred. Instead, the health care provider’s departure from the standard of care must have been a direct and proximate cause of your harm.
If you have been injured or you have lost a loved one due to a medical condition being misdiagnosed, you may be entitled to compensation. At Arfaa Law Group, our hard-working Baltimore misdiagnosis attorneys understand how to investigate these cases to determine if malpractice was the cause of your harm. With years of experience, we are committed to protecting the rights of Maryland patients at every step of the way. For a free consultation, call 410-889-1850 or contact us online.
More Blog Posts:
New Study Highlights Nurse Practitioners and Doctors Face Similar Liability Risks