As a patient, you have a right to know the results of any medical tests performed. Furthermore, medical professionals are held to a higher standard of care and they are required to notify patients of abnormal findings in a reasonable timeframe. Medical professionals are also required to review a patient’s test results to diagnose correctly, and they should consider those results before prescribing medications or treatments for a diagnosis that they have not confirmed.
One of the causes of medical misdiagnosis is a failure to communicate test results. Often, this leads to a patient receiving a delayed diagnosis or being diagnosed with the wrong condition, which can be fatal in some cases.
Determining if you have a malpractice case will depend on a few factors:
- Were you misdiagnosed because the doctor did not review your test results?
- Did you suffer a delayed diagnosis because the doctor did not review the test results promptly?
- Did your doctor fail to communicate your test results entirely?
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
Louisville Patients Should Never Assume That No News Is Good News
Many overrun physicians’ offices have a policy that they will only report test results when abnormal results come in. they often reassure patients by telling them that “no news is good news.” The issue, however, is that this is often not the case.
Instead, an office is too busy to look at the results or results are never followed up on. This leads to serious diagnostic issues for the patient – one that is assuming, since their caring doctor did not report back to them, they have nothing to worry about.
Patients have the right to be kept informed of their results, regardless if those results are normal or abnormal.
When a doctor does not notify the patient of the results, a medical mistake might have occurred. According to the Archives of Internal Medicine, physicians fail to inform patients about abnormal results 7 percent of the time.
Doctors offices, clinics, and hospitals are busy places. They see dozens of patients in a day, and they have strict recordkeeping procedures to ensure they follow up on patients. However, mistakes occur often, and patients should never assume that, because they didn’t receive a call, there is nothing to worry about.
Some common reasons physician’s offices fail to notify patients of their test results (whether normal or abnormal) include:
- They have no tracking system in place to monitor patient results and callbacks.
- There is a significant communication breakdown between administration and staff.
- There is no documentation in the patient’s chart about pending labs and test results.
- Alternatively, the physician and staff simply forgot.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
What Happens When a Patient Does Not Receive Their Test Results?
Not all instances of miscommunication result in a malpractice lawsuit. Harm must occur from the physician or hospitals negligence, such as:
The Patient Suffers a Delayed Diagnosis
The most common issue with physicians who fail to report back test results is a delayed diagnosis. For example, a patient goes to their doctor complaining of stomach pain. The doctor orders blood tests and a scan of the stomach and tells the patient they will call only if there is anything abnormal to report.
The patient never hears back; therefore, they assume they are just suffering from a garden-variety stomach bug that will pass.
A few weeks later, the patient’s stomach pain becomes worse. They go back to their doctor’s office. At this time, the physician reviews the chart and sees that the previous test results had shown a mass in the patient’s stomach. After doing another scan, it is discovered that the mass has now spread. Now, the patient is no longer a surgical candidate; instead, they can only prolong their life for a few months with chemotherapy. Had the physician reported the results a few weeks earlier (before the cancer spread) that patient would have been able to have the mass surgically removed and possibly recover from their illness entirely.
The Patient Suffers a Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis occurs when the patient is diagnosed with one condition but has another.
A physician might be too busy to review lab results, or they are in a hurry to push a patient out the door so that they can move on to another. In this case, they diagnose without reviewing the results and the diagnosis is wrong.
Had the physician reviewed the results before issuing a diagnosis, they could have adequately treated the patient.
The Patient Suffers No Harm, Despite Miscommunication
For a patient to have a malpractice case against a health care provider, they must suffer harm. If a physician’s office did not relay test results but no injury occurs, they might be negligent, but not subject to a lawsuit.
If you feel that your physician’s office is not communicating with you or you frequently have to call to track down test results, it might be in your best interest to seek treatment from another provider. When clinics and physician’s offices are overrun and lack proper tracking, mistakes are likely to happen – you do not want to be the victim of one of those diagnostic errors.
Holding Medical Professionals Accountable
If you suffered an injury from a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis because your physician failed to communicate test results, you have the right to hold them liable for those injuries.
Attorney Seth Gladstein, at the Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC, has experience reviewing cases that involve potential negligence when it comes to reading or communicating test results to patients.
We work alongside medical professionals to review your records, test results, and identify where the negligence occurred.
Furthermore, we fight aggressively for your right to compensation when you suffer harm because a physician does not review your records properly.
To explore your options or to understand your rights as a patient, contact the Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC, now at 502-791-9000 or contact us online. We offer no-obligation, confidential consultations.
Contact Gladstein Law Firm, PLLC
online or by calling 502-791-9000.
