can you sue a doctor for wrong diagnosis

How the wrong diagnosis or late diagnosis from your doctor can lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit.

A large number of medical malpractice lawsuits stem from the misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of a medical condition, illness, or injury. When a doctor's diagnosis error leads to incorrect treatment, delayed treatment, or no treatment at all, a patient's condition can be made much worse, and they may even die. That being said, a mistake in diagnosis by itself is not enough to sustain a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Settling Legal Disputes
Read on to learn what a patient must prove in a medical malpractice lawsuit based on misdiagnosis, the different types of diagnostic errors, and why misdiagnosis is more common in emergency room settings. (To learn about other ways that medical malpractice can occur, see Nolo's article Medical

Malpractice: Types of Doctor & Hospital Errors.)
Proving Medical Malpractice Based on Diagnostic Errors
The law does not hold doctors legally responsible for all diagnostic errors. Instead, patients usually must prove three things in order to prevail in a medical malpractice lawsuit based on a wrong diagnosis:

A doctor-patient relationship existed.
The doctor was negligent -- that is, did not provide treatment in a reasonably skillful and competent manner. The doctor's negligence caused actual injury to the patient. Most medical malpractice cases hinge on either the second or third element (or both) -- was the doctor negligent and did that negligence harm the patient? (To learn more about the elements in a medical malpractice claim, see Nolo's article Medical Malpractice Basics.)


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can you sue a doctor for wrong diagnosis