March 08, 2017
A significant number of medical malpractice cases are due to misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of a medical condition. Lack of a correct diagnosis can lead to incorrect or delayed treatment, worsening of a patient’s condition, and in severe cases, resulting in death. In a case of misdiagnosis, the…
November 27, 2015
Many Americans will be diagnosed incorrectly at least once in their lifetimes. That is the troubling finding made in a newly issued report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The report found that diagnostic errors are by far the most pervasive in medicine, outranking medication mistakes. An…
October 29, 2015
It was only the beginning of her problems when a wife and mother in her forties suffered a heart attack. Taken to a Philadelphia hospital, she was treated for the heart attack but later suffered additional symptoms, including headache and vomiting. A resident in the intensive care unit prescribed…
August 17, 2015
Pop star Avril Lavigne recently drew attention not for her singing voice but to the problem of misdiagnosing Lyme disease. Lyme is an infectious bacterial disease most commonly contracted through a tick bite. It has been contracted by people in all 50 states and 60 countries nationwide. Early…
April 25, 2015
It has been estimated that missed, incorrect, or delayed diagnoses affect as much as five percent of—or 12 million—medical cases within the United States annually. Of those, about half of all diagnosis errors are harmful. For instance, a late or missed diagnosis of cancer can lead to a spread of…
April 17, 2015
He was 61, a smoker, afflicted with high blood pressure and diabetes, but a doctor should not have ignored Finis Cuff’s high blood pressure of 200/80 during a visit in 2010. So said a jury in Delaware County recently in awarding nearly $7.4 million to Cuff, who suffered a stroke two days after…
February 06, 2015
Approximately 1.3 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year, and misdiagnosis is not uncommon. Last year, tissue samples from 6,000 cancer patients across the country were reviewed by researchers at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It was determined that one out of every 71 cases…
October 08, 2014
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a chance to increase awareness the early detection of breast cancer.  Breast cancer, in the early stages, can sometimes present in different ways.  Symptoms could include a change in the size or the shape of the breast, dimpling of breast tissue, inverted…
June 26, 2014
 Oral cancer is the growth of abnormal cells on the lips, tongue, gums, mouth floor, cheek lining or back of the throat.  A delay in diagnosing the cancer can cause it to spread to the lymph nodes or other areas of the body. An early sign of oral cancer may be the development of a white or red…
June 04, 2014
Compartment syndrome occurs when there is swelling and increased internal pressure within an arm, leg or abdomen.  After an injury or bone fracture there can be bleeding, swelling or fluid accumulation underneath the skin.  Because the skin is not open the fluid has nowhere to escape and the…