Misdiagnosis is a common type of medical malpractice that occurs when diagnosis
is incorrect. Typically, misdiagnosis leads to a failure to provide the
patient with the proper treatment. Certain types of medical conditions
are subject to misdiagnosis more frequently than others, such as cancer
and heart attacks.
Healthcare IT News, estimates show that misdiagnosis ranges between 10 to 15 percent of all
types of medical diagnoses. An earlier study published in
BMJ Quality and Safety also provides facts that approximately 40,000 to 80,000 U.S. hospital
deaths occur yearly because of diagnostic errors.
While these statistics are alarming, the good news is that statistics also
show that the use of electronic health records (EHRs) should reduce the
number of deaths and injuries caused by misdiagnosis. An EHR is a comprehensive
record of patient information containing medications, vital signs, past
medical history, lab reports, imaging data and notes about progress or
patient problems. It provides a broad view of a patient’s care and
state of total health.
EHRs are used in conjunction with software programs that evaluate information
and can help physicians reach a proper diagnosis. A HarvardUniversity
study observed one such software program over a three-year period and
it lowered mortality rates and shortened patients' hospital stays.
Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are software systems that combine
patient data, a medical knowledge base and software that can correlate
the data to a specific case and provide medical advice that helps physicians
pinpoint a correct diagnosis.
No one should ever suffer from an incorrect diagnosis and when diagnosis
procedures do not adhere to accepted medical standards, there may be grounds
to bring a
medical malpractice case against a Maine medical practitioner.