Misdiagnosis Lawyer in St. Louis
Have you suffered physical and emotional harm or incurred financial losses because a healthcare provider failed to diagnose or misdiagnose your medical condition? If so, you may be entitled to compensation. The St. Louis misdiagnosis attorneys of Sumner Law Group, LLC, can help.
Our attorneys have more than 50 years of combined legal experience fighting to secure a financial recovery on behalf of victims of medical malpractice. Our firm has earned a reputation for never backing down or settling for less than the compensation we believe our clients deserve. You can trust that we will demand answers and justice in your misdiagnosis claim.
Contact us now for a free case review with a St. Louis delayed diagnosis lawyer. Our firm can begin work on your case with no upfront costs to you. In fact, you don’t pay any fees unless we win compensation for you.
Problems Caused by Misdiagnosis and Missed Diagnosis
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis can lead to these types of complications and harm for a patient:
- Having to undergo unnecessary treatment for another medical condition, like an unnecessary surgery
- Allowing the actual condition to worsen, which can lead to continued or increased pain and suffering
- Missing out on the window when more effective treatments are available ─ for example, allowing undiagnosed cancer to progress to a more aggressive stage when treatments can no longer fully help the patient
- Requiring more intensive, expensive, or painful treatments to treat the condition when it is finally correctly diagnosed
These problems can cause patients whose conditions are misdiagnosed to require more complex and expensive medical treatments. They must often undergo more painful or side-effect-inducing treatments, such as surgical procedures or chemotherapy. Patients may miss more time from work because of those medical treatments. Patients can suffer from extended or increased pain and emotional distress because their conditions have worsened. Patients whose conditions are misdiagnosed also run the risk of having a reduced quality of life or shortened life expectancy when diseases such as cancer go untreated.
When Misdiagnosis Becomes Malpractice
Not every misdiagnosis of an illness or medical condition will give rise to a medical malpractice claim. The law recognizes that medical science is always evolving and that not every question in medicine has an obvious answer. Multiple doctors may each come to the same wrong conclusions about a patient’s diagnosis.
Misdiagnosis becomes medical malpractice when a diagnosing physician fails to comply with the applicable standard of care. The standard of care is usually defined as the actions and decisions that another reasonable medical provider of similar training and skill would make under identical circumstances. In other words, the law will not hold a doctor liable for misdiagnosis when many other doctors would have reached the same misdiagnosis. A misdiagnosis only results in liability when other reasonable medical professionals would not have made the same error as your treating physician.
In addition, a misdiagnosis only constitutes medical malpractice when a patient suffers harm and compensable damages that are directly attributable to the misdiagnosis. If your condition does not worsen by the time it is correctly diagnosed, or if you do not require more expensive, intensive, or painful treatment, then you may not have a medical malpractice claim.
The best way to determine whether your misdiagnosis is considered medical malpractice is to speak with a knowledgeable lawyer.
Compensation for Damages in a Misdiagnosis Claim
When you have suffered a misdiagnosis, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries and losses, including:
- Medical treatment (or additional medical treatment) necessitated by the delay in a correct diagnosis or to recover from harm inflicted by a misdiagnosis (such as recovery from an unnecessary surgery)
- Lost wages or income from work that you would not have missed but for your misdiagnosis
- Lost earning potential if you are disabled and cannot return to work
Additional pain and suffering caused by the advancing of your medical condition or by more intensive and painful treatments for the advanced condition - Lost quality of life due to disabilities or decreased life expectancy due to a more advanced medical condition
Time Limit on Cases Involving Missed or Delayed Diagnosis
If you have suffered a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, Missouri’s statute of limitations on medical malpractice claims generally requires you to file a lawsuit within two years of the date of your misdiagnosis, or within two years of the date that you discover (or should have reasonably discovered) that you were harmed by misdiagnosis. Under the statute of repose, you may not file a lawsuit more than 10 years after a misdiagnosis, regardless of when you discovered your injury.
A minor child who suffers from a misdiagnosis has until his or her 20th birthday to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, regardless of when the misdiagnosis occurred or when the error was discovered.
If you fail to file your misdiagnosis lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires, you run the risk of a court permanently dismissing your case. When that happens, you lose your right to pursue compensation in court.
How Our Misdiagnosis Lawyers Can Help with Your Case
If you have suffered due to a misdiagnosis, the lawyers of Sumner Law Group, LLC, can help you pursue a claim for compensation by:
- Securing all available medical records from your treatment along with all other relevant evidence, such as emails and communications
- Collaborating with our medical experts to develop an effective legal argument that shows how your doctor’s failure to correctly diagnose your condition constituted medical malpractice
- Documenting the full extent of your injuries and losses
- Working with vocational and financial experts to calculate the compensation you may be entitled to receive
- Filing claims on your behalf with at-fault parties and their insurers
- Negotiating with insurance adjusters and defense attorneys for a fair settlement
- Preparing your case to be filed in court and to go to trial, if that becomes the best option for pursuing your financial recovery
Do not wait another day for a free consultation with a St. Louis delayed diagnosis attorney from Sumner Law Group, LLC. Let us help you demand answers and justice after a medical provider’s negligence in misdiagnosing your health condition.
