The failure to diagnose an illness or other medical condition can cause considerable pain and suffering to be experienced by a patient and, in the case of a failure to diagnose a serious illness, it can allow the condition to progress to the point where treatment becomes difficult or even impossible.
In order to be able to claim compensation for a failure to diagnose an illness in Ireland, you must have suffered harm as a direct result of the failure to diagnose illness. Your medical condition must have deteriorated significantly as a result of a failure to diagnose illness, and your medical records must show this. They must also show that the symptoms that you originally visited a doctor about were accurately recorded. When assessing compensation claims for a failure to diagnose illness, your medical records will be used by medical experts to determine whether a competent doctor should have identified the signs of an illness under the same circumstances, and would have been able to diagnose the illness and taken action to avoid you from suffering an injury.
Compensation Claims for a Failure to Diagnose Appendicitis
A failure to diagnose appendicitis is a common failure to diagnose a medical condition, and is one which can cause the health of a patient to seriously suffer. A failure to diagnose appendicitis should not occur when a patient visits a doctor or emergency room with severe pain in the lower right abdomen, and the common accompanying symptoms of nausea, vomiting and a fever. A failure to diagnose appendicitis – a condition which requires immediate surgery – can cause the appendix to rupture and can lead to serious injuries developing such as septicaemia and peritonitis. A failure to diagnose appendicitis can usually result in a successful claim for compensation being made.
Compensation Claims for Failure to Diagnose Cancer
A failure to diagnose cancer can have fatal consequences for the victim. When cancer is accurately diagnosed in its early stages, treatment can be highly effective. As cancer progresses it becomes far more serious and difficult to treat effectively. Cancer diagnosed in stage 0 or stage 1 may respond well to treatment. Cancer in stage 3 or the final stage can be fatal and may not respond to treatment at all. A claim for compensation for failure to diagnose cancer may depend on the length of time taken between the symptoms of cancer being present and when the diagnosis was actually made.
A delay of a few days to a few weeks is not usually sufficient for a failure to diagnose cancer claim to be successful. If you have developed a cancer which could not have been treated effectively had a correct diagnosis been made earlier, this cannot form the basis of a claim for compensation for failure to diagnose cancer. Any failure to diagnose cancer claim must be assessed by an experienced medical negligence solicitor, who will tell you if you are eligible to make a claim for compensation.
Failure to Diagnose Stroke Claims for Compensation
The quick treatment of a stroke is vital to prevent permanent damage from being sustained. A failure to diagnose stroke can see a patient suffer further strokes, which can often be prevented with appropriate medication and lifestyle changes. A failure to diagnose stroke can cause a patient permanent damage, and can often be fatal. If you believe that a doctor should have made a diagnosis based on your symptoms, his failure to diagnose stroke could be classed as medical negligence, and a failure to diagnose stroke claim for compensation could be made.
Claims for a Failure to Diagnose Infection in Ireland
A failure to diagnose infection can form the basis of a claim for medical negligence compensation if, based on the information the doctor had at the time, he should have been able to make an accurate diagnosis or should have arranged for medical tests to be completed which would have indicated that there was an infection. A failure to diagnose infection can result in a successful claim for compensation if the health of the patient has deteriorated as a result of a delayed diagnosis, and if the early treatment of the infection would have prevented further health problems from being suffered.
Failure to Diagnose Autism Claims in Ireland
A failure to diagnose autism in a child will result in a delay in treatment being administered, which can have a profound effect on the child’s health and the extent to which autism controls the child’s life. Autism is a medical disorder that develops in the first three years of a child’s life, and the early treatment of autism can greatly improve the quality of a child’s life. If you have visited a doctor, and tests for autism were not conducted, and you believe that they should have been – given the symptoms that your child was displaying – this could amount to medical negligence, and you should consult a medical negligence solicitor about making a claim for compensation for failure to diagnose autism.
Free Legal Advice on Failure to Diagnose Claims
Medical negligence claims law is highly complex, and determining when a failure to diagnose can be the basis of a medical negligence compensation claim requires not only an experienced medical negligence solicitor, but also medical experts to assess the case.
A medical negligence solicitor will listen to your account of the failure to diagnose a medical condition, and will advise you about your eligibility to make a claim for compensation. An experienced medical negligence solicitor will know the best medical experts to consult to help substantiate a claim for a failure to diagnose an illness, so that the strongest possible case can be presented.
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