Did Your Doctor Fail to Diagnose You?

Our Anchorage and Juneau Medical Malpractice Lawyer Hold Doctors Accountable

Dillon & Findley, P.C., is a medical malpractice law firm that provides representation in a variety of medical malpractice cases, including surgical errors, birth injuries, and failure to diagnose a serious medical condition. Each Juneau and Anchorage medical malpractice attorney at our firm has extensive litigation experience and may be able to help you recover for pain and suffering.

Failure to diagnose often is the basis of a patient’s medical malpractice claim. Failure to diagnose a patient’s medical condition is a possible doctor mistake that has the potential to cause serious pain and suffering. 40% of all medical malpractice claims are due to the failure of a doctor to diagnose some kind of condition. The most common failed diagnoses include failure to diagnose cancer, failure to diagnose heart disease and heart conditions, failure to diagnose metabolic imbalances, and failure to diagnose mental illness.

To file a claim of medical malpractice based on a failure to diagnose, Alaska law requires proof by a preponderance of the evidence that a healthcare provider fell below the standard of care in failing to diagnose a medical condition and that this breach of the standard of care caused further injury or death. Our Juneau medical malpractice lawyers must show that the failure to diagnose the medical condition caused the condition to worsen and resulted in further problems that could have been prevented.

The particular type of medical condition that the healthcare provider failed to diagnose is an important consideration in determining whether the patient has a viable medical malpractice claim. A failure to diagnose diseases or conditions that are rare or exotic may not meet the burden of proof requirement. Conversely, a failure to diagnose a common disease or condition that most doctors see frequently over the course of their career may fall below the standard of care.

Damages are an important and determinative consideration in all medical malpractice cases, and particularly in failure to diagnose cases. Damages are difficult to prove in failure to diagnose cases. Unlike medical malpractice claims based on surgical errors, it is not easy to determine what the actual damages are from the failure to diagnose.

At Dillon & Findley, P.C., we are available to answer any questions you may have about a healthcare provider’s failure to diagnose a medical condition. We will thoroughly review your potential medical malpractice case and may be able to help you recover damages for pain and suffering. Contact an experienced Anchorage medical malpractice attorney at Dillon & Findley, P.C. for a consultation today.