Health issues are an unfortunate fact of life for every one of us. In the UK, we are lucky enough to have a National Health Service that provides medical care free at the point of use – but the NHS is currently struggling, as a result of increased burdens and decreased funding.With the NHS struggling as it is, the possibility of misdiagnosis is more likely than
ever. Misdiagnosis is simply what happens when a doctor wrongly declares you to have a condition. It can happen in good faith, where conditions are similar in symptoms, but it can also happen for a number of reasons beyond your control. What are the signs that you may have suffered a misdiagnosis?
Your Symptoms Don’t Match the Diagnosis
Often, the simplest signs are the most effective; if your symptoms differ from the symptoms linked to your diagnosis, this may be a clear indication that you have suffered a misdiagnosis. Different conditions can often share symptoms, but there may be some tell-tale symptoms that don’t match.
It may also be that the condition with which you were diagnosed is much more common than the other potential options, with your GP ‘gambling’ that a rarer condition is not extant. Either way, you have grounds to question your diagnosis.
You Didn’t Receive the Proper Tests
You may have received a diagnosis without having undergone any specific testing for your condition – or for the condition you believe you may have. In some cases, this is a judicious choice made owing to the obvious nature of a condition – but in some cases, this could be a form of negligent behaviour.
As an extreme example, you may have visited a doctor out of concern for a lump that matches the description of cancerous growth. Your doctor may have performed a casual physical examination and decided against the possibility of cancer. However, you may have been eligible for further blood tests and a biopsy to determine the nature of the lump – and undiagnosed cancer could be developing further.
Your Doctor Did Not Have All the Information
In some cases, medical negligence claims can be justified not as a result of direct action or inaction from a doctor, but administrative error. You may have been passed from a GP to a specialist, but not all of your information may have been passed along too. As a result, the specialist may make a diagnosis on the basis of incomplete data – one that does not reflect your true condition.
Your Treatment is Ineffective
Another obvious indicator of potential misdiagnosis is the ineffectiveness of any treatments given. Treatments are generally targeted interventions, with specific results in mind. If your condition does not match the condition you were diagnosed with, your resulting treatments will do nothing for your symptoms. They could even cause further harm.
A Second Opinion Yields a Different Result
Lastly, your concerns regarding misdiagnosis may well be confirmed by seeking a second opinion. A different GP, or another specialist, may give you a diagnosis that differs from your original diagnosis. This does not necessarily mean a correct diagnosis, but instead that your condition is in dispute, and that further investigation is necessary.
