Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis

How Misdiagnosis Happens

Misdiagnosis often happens because different illnesses can produce similar symptoms, or a doctor may not conduct a thorough evaluation. For example, signs of a stroke might be mistaken for less serious issues in an older patient, or cancer symptoms might be attributed to a minor infection. Common ways misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis occurs include:

• The doctor doesn’t spend enough time reviewing the patient’s symptoms and medical history.

• Required tests or imaging (like blood tests, MRIs, etc.) are not ordered, or results are misread.

• A specialist referral is not given when it would be standard to consult one.

• The condition is rare or atypical, and the doctor fails to recognize red-flag indicators that a more thorough investigation is needed.

When a diagnosis is missed or wrong, the harm to the patient can be severe. Without the proper diagnosis, it’s nearly impossible to implement an effective treatment plan. The illness or injury may worsen untreated, or the patient might undergo incorrect treatments that carry side effects but don’t help the real issue. For instance, if cancer is misdiagnosed as a benign condition, the cancer can spread unchecked. Conversely, a patient misdiagnosed with a disease they don’t have might receive needless medications or even surgery. In the best-case scenario, a misdiagnosis might “only” prolong recovery; in the worst cases, it causes permanent injury or death.

Georgia Law: Misdiagnosis Malpractice

If you were harmed because of a misdiagnosis or a diagnosis that was unreasonably delayed, Georgia law allows you to seek compensation through a medical malpractice claim. Under Georgia malpractice standards, a doctor is negligent if they fail to use the reasonable care and skill that other doctors in the same field would use under similar circumstances. In a misdiagnosis case, this usually means showing that a competent physician would have identified the condition (or done more to investigate) when the defendant doctor did not. Perhaps the average doctor would have ordered a certain test or recognized a key symptom – and failing to do so violated the standard of care.

To succeed in a malpractice case for misdiagnosis, the patient (plaintiff) must prove several things. Georgia courts have explained that there are three essential elements in any medical negligence claim: (1) a duty of care (the doctor-patient relationship establishes this duty), (2) a breach of that duty (the doctor failed to meet the appropriate standard of care), and (3) the breach caused the patient’s injury (often called proximate cause). In practical terms, you need to show that you were indeed a patient of the doctor, the doctor’s diagnostic error was a deviation from what a normally careful doctor would have done, and because of that error you suffered harm (worsened health, additional treatment costs, etc.). Importantly, misdiagnosis by itself is not automatically malpractice – the mistake must be one that a reasonably careful doctor would not have made. Doctors are not expected to be perfect, but they are expected to follow the accepted standards of their profession.

Burden of Proof

In Georgia, the burden is on the injured patient to prove the doctor was negligent, and this must be done by a “preponderance of the evidence”. That means you must show it is more likely than not (greater than 50% probability) that the misdiagnosis resulted from the doctor’s failure to meet the standard of care. In a misdiagnosis case, this typically requires expert testimony. Your attorney will usually hire a medical expert (often another physician in the same specialty) to review the records and explain what the treating doctor should have done differently. In fact, Georgia law requires that when you file a malpractice lawsuit, you include an expert affidavit – a sworn statement from a qualified medical expert outlining at least one act of negligence by the defendant. This rule is designed to prevent frivolous lawsuits and ensure that a medical professional has reviewed the case and identified a deviation from the standard of care.

Statute of Limitations: Like all states, Georgia sets a time limit for filing medical malpractice lawsuits. In general, you must file a malpractice claim within two years of the date the injury occurred or was discovered. For a misdiagnosis case, the “injury” might be the worsening of the condition due to lack of treatment – often dated from when the correct diagnosis was finally made. However, Georgia also has a five-year statute of repose for medical malpractice. This means no matter when you discover the malpractice, you cannot bring a claim more than five years after the negligent act itself. (An exception exists for cases involving a foreign object left in the body, which can be brought within one year of discovery even if beyond five years, and special rules extend deadlines for minor children. But for most misdiagnosis claims, the five-year cutoff applies.) In short, if a Georgia doctor misdiagnosed you, you have at most two years to sue from when you were harmed, and never more than five years from the date of the misdiagnosis. It’s critical to speak with an attorney as soon as you suspect malpractice to avoid missing these deadlines.

Medical malpractice injuries – whether from a misdiagnosis, a surgical mistake, or a medication error – can leave victims feeling overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.

It’s important to remember that you have rights. Georgia law provides remedies for those injured by negligent healthcare providers, but taking action promptly is critical due to the strict time limits on these cases. If you or a loved one have suffered because of a medical professional’s mistake, the Bourne Law Firm is here to help you understand your legal options.