Medical Malpractice Attorney in San Francisco, California
What are some reasons doctors fail to make a proper diagnosis?
What are some reasons doctors fail to make a proper diagnosis?
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they at times
[Music]
um
failure they kind of failed to walk
through a diagnostic algorithm that
they’re all trained to do they learn it
very early on in their in medical school
in their residency and fellowship
programs I found over the years that
that a lot of those failure to diagnose
cases are when the physician kind of
gets offline from that algorithm and and
you know and there’s what this you know
obviously it’s a medicines that aren’t
into science but there’s a lot of
science to it and sometimes
um Physicians for whatever reason won’t
run through the proper you know
diagnostic algorithms for example and I
always like to compare it to like
um
airline travel right every time a
plane’s going to take off the Pilot’s
check every possible system they run
through every algorithm the computer
systems they redundant systems they
check everything and that’s why you see
very few planes falling out of the sky
uh in my opinion but in medicine you
know sometimes those things don’t occur
people don’t follow those diagnostic
Pathways and that’s where we end up with
further diagnosed cases and lawsuits and
settlements and jury verdicts foreign
San Francisco, CA medical malpractice attorney Jeff Mitchell discusses some reasons doctors fail to make a proper diagnosis. In cases of failure to diagnose, healthcare providers sometimes deviate from established diagnostic algorithms that they are trained in from early in their medical education. These algorithms are based on sound medical science and are designed to guide physicians in reaching accurate diagnoses. However, over the years, it has become apparent that many failure-to-diagnose cases occur when physicians diverge from these established algorithms for various reasons.
An analogy that often comes to mind is that of airline travel. Pilots meticulously check every system and run through various algorithms and safety checks before a plane takes off. This rigorous adherence to protocols contributes to the safety of air travel. Similarly, in medicine, following diagnostic pathways and protocols is crucial. However, there are instances when healthcare providers fail to do so, leading to cases of misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and, subsequently, medical malpractice lawsuits, settlements, and jury verdicts.
