8 Ways a Medical Misdiagnosis Lawyer Can Help You Win Your Case

A misdiagnosis can change your life as well as that of your family. You place great trust in your team of healthcare providers, and when they fail to properly perform their jobs, you can suffer a great deal of harm. That’s why you need a misdiagnosis lawyer – to fight for your rights and recover the compensation you need. But a Baltimore attorney doesn’t just eloquently argue. They provide assistance in many more ways than you may at first realize.

8 Ways a Medical Misdiagnosis Lawyer Can Help You Win Your Case in Baltimore

1. Prove a Member of Your Care Team Acted Negligently

A misdiagnosis can lay the groundwork for a medical malpractice suit, but three important elements must be proven for that case to be successful. Those elements include:

  • An established doctor-patient relationship
  • Negligence on the doctor’s part
  • Injuries to you as a result of that negligence

Negligence usually boils down to whether the doctor deviated from a practiced standard of care when evaluating your condition and arriving at a diagnosis. Misdiagnosis cases require a comparison of how another provider under similar circumstances and in a similar care specialty would have made the diagnosis.

The Comparison of Care

In other words, to show medical negligence, you must be able to prove the doctor failed to skillfully and competently provide treatment when compared to other professionals. And this requires an understanding of the doctor’s methodology used to make the diagnosis. Health care providers employ specific tools to determine a patient’s condition.

They often review a patient’s history, conduct a physical examination, and order a battery of appropriate tests. Further evaluations may then be used to reach the final diagnosis, with actions that often include ordering additional laboratory tests and/or referring a patient to outside specialists. Many times, an expert witness will need to be called to evaluate the doctor’s actions and determine if the requisite standard of care was met.

2. Move Your Case Beyond Negligence to Causation

Once negligence is proven, the element of causation must be addressed. Keep in mind it’s not enough for an error in diagnosis to have occurred. The misdiagnosis must have caused direct harm to you. In addition, it must also be proven that had you received a proper diagnosis, that harm never would have occurred.

Harm is usually created by a series of events that starts with misdiagnosis. This leads to the wrong type of medical treatment – or an absence of any treatment, depending on how the doctor chose to proceed – that allows the condition to worsen. The patient then needlessly suffers continuing pain or additional medical issues beyond their initial problems.

A Legal Hurdle

Causation can be a difficult hurdle to overcome. You must show the suffering you endured was not simply because you have a medical condition, but because the doctor made a grievous error that delayed proper treatment.

Because a medical condition does commonly cause suffering, you need to prove your pain was exacerbated by the misdiagnosis itself, rather than the condition simply running its course. Your lawyer can help with these difficult elements and build a strong, well-crafted case from the ground up.

3. Identify the Party Responsible for Your Misdiagnosis

In some cases, misdiagnosis is the result of an error in one of the diagnostic tests. Determining whether the problem was caused by faulty medical equipment or human error is a vital step in naming the correct party responsible.

After thoroughly reviewing the steps that led to the diagnostic error, your lawyer may find a doctor is not liable for medical malpractice. Instead, a lab technician or other member of your care team may be responsible. Getting this right requires time and care – just the sort of work a well-trained Baltimore attorney will be prepared to undertake.

4. Handle All Necessary Paperwork

If you’ve ever read a legal contract, you know the verbiage used can be both intimidating and confusing. Within just a few lines of text, you’re likely to lose sight of the contract’s original meaning as you try to grasp individual points. A medical malpractice claim is no different in that an enormous amount of paperwork must be drafted, signed, filed, and responded to. 

Misdiagnosis lawyers know how to read legal language and incorporate it into their own documents. They’re also experienced in completing documents in a timely manner, organizing and saving pertinent records, and properly responding to correspondence from other involved parties. These are not tasks you should take on yourself because they can quickly leave you feeling overwhelmed. Instead, let an attorney handle the necessary legal correspondence.

5. Manage Conversations with the Insurance Company

The average person does not know when they should or should not speak to the insurance company nor what they should or should not disclose. Your Baltimore attorney, on the other hand, can assist you with what to say and what questions to ask. This help can be a great asset in obtaining medical records and documents. Insurance companies are far more likely to comply with requests from a lawyer than a plaintiff trying to go it alone.

6. Properly Value Your Misdiagnosis Claim

Without the reference points provided by previous cases similar to yours, it’s difficult to identify the true value of your case and the monetary compensation you should seek for your injuries. Attorneys are indispensable in this regard. They’ve handled other misdiagnosis cases and can take into account the many factors – such as your injuries and loss of life quality – that influence the value of your case. 
They can also succinctly represent your wants and needs to maximize your chances of a favorable ruling from the judge. In short, an attorney will provide the voice you need and fight for fair compensation.

7. Avoid Costly Mistakes

If you don’t feel comfortable with the process of filing a claim, strategizing your case, and presenting your argument, you will likely make mistakes that could cost your entire claim. Much is at stake with a misdiagnosis case, from mounting medical care costs to lost wages. Each of these factors must be equally considered, meaning each is also an opportunity to make a misstep.

A lawyer, on the other hand, has been through the legal process many times before and knows exactly what must be done to increase your chances of success. The two of you can work together to avoid costly mistakes and put the facts of your claim onto paper.

8. Tap Into Valuable Resources

A lawyer who handles misdiagnosis cases does more than represent you in court. They also grant you access to a wealth of resources and information that may not otherwise be available to you. 
To illustrate, they know and have relationships with medical experts and consultants who can provide important professional opinions on your case. They also have team members who will spend significant time reviewing your medical records, spotting care discrepancies, and collecting additional evidence. Collectively, these people provide your best shot at winning your case. Without their expertise, your claim is likely to be much weaker.

When faced with a misdiagnosis case, you need an attorney who will provide the personal attention you deserve. You also need a lawyer with experience, talent, and resources. Our law firm has successfully recovered billions of dollars in compensation for the clients we represent, and we’ve served local victims for more than 50 years. Schedule your consultation today by contacting the team at Peter Angelos Law.

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