Report: 12 Million Americans Misdiagnosed Each Year

Report: 12 Million Americans Misdiagnosed Each Year

According to the conclusions of three separate studies, as reported by Forbes, roughly 12 million Americans are misdiagnosed every year, a consequence of the fact that doctors often times fail to follow-up on so-called “red flags” for grave illnesses such as cancer.

Statistics within the report indicate that those 12 million Americans who go misdiagnosed account for roughly 1 in 20, or 5%, of all patients seen in the United States, a significant portion of medical attention-seeking individuals who place in the hands of doctors their health and wellbeing. What is the result of a misdiagnosis? If you think a misdiagnosis is a harmless mistake that just requires an extra visit to the doctor’s office, you’re wrong. Just before this report was released, Johns Hopkins University released a study, the results of which show that roughly 160,000 Americans die every year due to medical error.

As personal injury lawyers, our attorneys at the Law Offices of Aronberg & Aronberg are concerned with these aforementioned statistics because they demonstrate, clearly, that as highly-trained as doctors are, they still make mistakes and overlook certain telltale signs of diseases. Many of our clients have become victims of a disease that could have been prevented and/or properly treated, had their doctor fulfilled their duty and noticed what they should have noticed when reading reports, conducting scans, etc. The result of sloppiness at work is not always a matter of life or death, but in the medical industry, it often is. People’s lives are at stake.

Efforts to impose so-called “tort reform” seem to ignore just how rampant fatal medical malpractice is in this country. If tort reformers had their way, laws would be passed that would severely limit the ability of injured patients, and/or families of individuals who have died due to medical malpractice, to recover compensation for their losses.

Furthermore, passing legislation that explicitly limits the extent to which patients can seek damages basically sets a limit on just how liable a doctor can be. Telling medical processionals that the most they’ll be responsible for paying is X amount may affect the way that they conduct themselves and the care that they take; if a law was passed saying that, in car accidents, the most that anyone will ever have to pay for negligence is Y amount, wealthier drivers would possibly be less concerned with safe driving, as they would know that their wealth is not on the line. Of course doctors don’t want to injure their patients, just as negligent drivers (generally) don’t want to inflict pain on other motorists. The fact is, though, that people go about their daily lives with varying degrees of caution. When you take away the possibility of huge losses due to mistakes, you reduce the motivation that people have to exert a great deal of energy into being cautious.

If you have been injured to the wrongdoing or negligence of a medical professional, please contact us for a free consultation. Reach out to our experienced attorneys by calling 561-266-9191 or emailing us at daronberg@build.simple.biz

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