Headlines about surgical tools being left in a patient’s body, or babies born with birth defects due to a hospital’s negligence, are attention-grabbing. However, a quieter and perhaps more deadly type of malpractice is most common—misdiagnosis.

According to Fox News, a study examining “medical malpractice claims against primary care doctors in the United States, Australia, France, and Canada found that between 26 and 63 percent of claims were related to missed diagnoses.” It is important to note that malpractice claims are different than the actual number of incidents as claims are allegations brought against the doctor by the affected patient or bereaved family. According to Fox News, about two-thirds of medical malpractice claims filed in the United States are thrown out by a court and not awarded.

The most common outcome in a medical malpractice claim was death of the patient. Not surprisingly, a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose cancer was the number one reason for the claim: specifically breast, colon, melanoma, and lung cancer. A failure to diagnose meningitis in children was high on the list, as was a failure to recognize a heart attack in adults. Though many of these claims are thrown out, by some estimates the number of such incidents could be much higher than the claims suggest. Many patients who experience adverse side effects do not recognize them as medical malpractice and do not file.

A doctor at the California-based malpractice insurer The Doctors Company told Fox that suits can help doctors recognize where diagnoses are being missed, and alert them to the possibility of atypical symptoms. Many claims were filed in recent years regarding cases of heart attacks in women. By studying these claims, doctors were able to learn more about how to detect the possibility of heart attacks in women, and share this information with other doctors. “Ultimately [the process of analyzing malpractice claims] can contribute to improving the quality of medical practice,” the doctor told Fox.

If you or someone you know has been negatively affected by a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose in Connecticut, the most important step is to seek the counsel of a Westport medical malpractice attorney. Contact the law offices of Richard H. Raphael, Attorney at Law, for a free initial consultation today.

Post-hospital syndrome is quickly becoming a serious health risk that affects millions of people each year. Elderly patients are especially vulnerable to the syndrome, with one in five seniors Medicare patients needing to return to the hospital within 30 days of being charged. This represents almost 3 million patients per year.

But these returns to the hospital are not related to the patient’s original medical condition. Instead, patients develop a new medical problem that can be traced back to trauma from the original hospitalization.

According to a study done by professors from Yale Medical School, which looked at more than 3 million hospitalizations of Medicare patients, 90 percent of people who were initially admitted because of a heart attack return back to the hospital within 30 days after discharge with a different problem. For patients admitted with pneumonia, 78 percent returned. And 65 percent of patients who suffered from heart failure were back within a month.

Post-hospital illnesses often include infections, gastrointestinal conditions, heart failure, nutrition-related problems, imbalances of electrolytes, and trauma.

The lead researcher of the study, Dr. Harlan Krumholz, points out that instead of fostering a healing environment, hospitals instead expose the patients to a large amount of stressors which only may only weaken an already weak patient more. “The result is that hospitalized patients are often deconditioned, in pain, malnourished, stressed, with circadian disruptions,” he said. “And we ask why patients return to the hospital? Maybe it’s what we’ve done to them.”

Krumholz says there are things that hospitals should be doing to help promote healing in patients, such as eliminating unnecessary tests and procedures and making sure patients are getting enough rest and proper nutrition. He also recommends that both physicians and other hospital staff take a more pro-active approach in patient wellness and preventing these medical complications.

If you have suffered an injury or illness as a result of negligent medical care, contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney to find out what compensation you may be entitled to for pain and loss.