When you go to the doctor, you probably have every faith that the physician will diagnose and treat you correctly. Unfortunately, mistakes sometimes happen. While some mistakes may be a legitimate accident, some mistakes occur due to negligence on behalf of the physician.
According to Healthline, about 100,000 people suffer from permanent disability or die because of misdiagnosis. These are the most common medical mistakes.
What leads to a misdiagnosis?
Misdiagnosis can occur when a physician does not listen to your complaints or does not apply the most high-quality evidence to the case. While mistakes can always happen, physicians need to remember to order diagnostic tests and to evaluate all symptoms. The majority of all misdiagnoses occur because of an error in judgment. When it comes to vascular events or infections, physicians in the emergency room have a higher likelihood of diagnosing you incorrectly. However, a misdiagnosis of cancer often occurs in an outpatient clinic setting.
What are the most common misdiagnoses?
When it comes to misdiagnosis, three main health conditions account for most incidents. These big three are cancers, vascular events and infections. Those three are the most likely to cause the most damage when misdiagnosed.
Some conditions or illnesses prove to be difficult to diagnose. For instance, if you present to the doctor with a cough, he or she may mistake it for an upper respiratory infection rather than lung cancer. Likewise, infections can take multiple visits for doctors to diagnose. Whole vascular incidents, such as a stroke are important to discover right away, doctors do miss them.
