According to a medical website, failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis remains far and away the most common mistake the medical professionals make that leads to a patient filing a lawsuit. The reason a misdiagnosis can so easily give rise to lawsuits is that the results of bad medical advice can be deadly.
Even if the patient does not undergo an unnecessary or harmful treatment, which in of itself can be problematic, the patient could still lose critical time that he or she otherwise have had to get the proper, and possibility lifesaving, help he or she needed. Behind misdiagnoses, injuries or complications from childbirth also lead to a lot of patient lawsuits.
For example, during pregnancy, a physician has to watch the health of two patients instead of one, and overlooking a problem with either the mom or the baby can lead to an unnecessary miscarriage or even a severe or fatal injury to the mother. Childbirth itself is also a risky process, which requires a doctor to remain vigilant and prepared to handle unexpected complications.
Another common reason for medical malpractice lawsuits is a lack of informed consent. Although some may dismiss it as a formality, doctors, in fact, have a duty to go over all the risks of a significant medical procedure and describe alternatives.
If they do not, a patient in the Houston area may take on a dangerous surgery blinded to the actual risks involved. If the patient gets hurt, the doctor may be accountable, even if he or she otherwise performed the procedure correctly.
