The Consequences of Failing to Order Proper Tests

Going to the doctor is the responsible way to manage your health when dealing with concerning symptoms. Doctors train extensively on diagnosing and treating medical issues. Part of the diagnostic process is ordering the right tests.

Without them, time-sensitive illnesses can be overlooked, or doctors might misdiagnose and mistreat them. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common form of medical malpractice. Discover the consequences of failing to order important tests and find out how to protect yourself.

Delayed Treatment

By finding and treating illnesses early on, doctors can prevent them from worsening or spreading. When doctors fail to diagnose and treat progressive or degenerative issues, they can spread to other organs and organ systems. Some illnesses can even impact patients’ mobility, cognitive health, and other functions.

Nearly all medical issues have far better outcomes when found and treated right away, including:

• Hypertension
• Cancer
• Appendicitis
• Heart attacks and other vascular events
• Lupus
• Sepsis
• Pneumonia

Misdiagnosis and Improper Treatment

Without the right diagnostic tests, some patients receive no treatment at all. Others receive treatments for the wrong issues. For instance, lacking the proper testing, the early symptoms of an oncoming stroke could be mistaken for vertigo, nausea, migraines, or anxiety. Receiving anti-nausea medication won’t stop a stroke, and doctors will miss the opportunity to prevent serious stroke-related damage.

Improper treatment can include taking unnecessary medications and experiencing unnecessary side effects. It can also include invasive and high-risk surgeries that provide no real benefits to the patient’s condition.

Permanent Physical Injuries

Early treatment for rheumatoid arthritis can stave off or slow permanent joint damage. Successful stroke interventions can prevent irreversible brain damage, severe motor impairment, and lasting speech and cognitive difficulties. For these and many other health issues, the consequences of a missed medical test can affect a person throughout the remainder of their life.

Decreased Treatment Options

When doctors diagnose medical ailments early on, patients have both better outcomes and more treatment options. Cancer is the best example of how delayed diagnosis can impact a person’s available treatment options and long-term prognosis.

Screenings help doctors identify pre-cancers (polyps) and remove them before they become cancerous. When cancers are small and still localized, timely surgical removal and targeted anticancer medications can leave patients cancer-free.

But when untreated cancers spread due to misdiagnosis, lack of treatment, or delayed treatment, they often become terminal. There may be no way to safely surgically remove them, and some cancers can even mutate and become resistant to targeted therapies.

With delayed diagnosis and treatment, not only do cancer patients have fewer treatment options, but treatment often becomes more challenging and complex as well. As cancers spread, surgical interventions tend to be more invasive, and medication dosing schedules take a greater physical toll.

Anxiety, Depression, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and improper treatment can all be costly, stressful, and unnecessarily physically painful. All of these things can have an impact on patients’ mental and emotional health. Failure to order the right tests and failure to issue the right interventions could lead to tremendous anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress.

In some instances, patients can even develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One of the primary symptoms of PTSD is avoidance of activities that caused the initial trauma. PTSD can cause patients to avoid seeking much-needed medical care, delay treatments, or attempt to self-treat, and often with disastrous results.

Why Doctors Fail to Order the Right Tests

There are many reasons why doctors fail to order the right tests. These include:

• Ignoring red flags
• Failing to consider patients’ medical histories
• Not listening to patients’ complaints
• Cognitive biases and fixation on specific diagnoses
• Issues with electronic medical records (EMRs)
• Insufficient training and knowledge

Sometimes doctors don’t order tests due to systemic barriers and costs. They may have pressure from insurance companies or hospital administrators to limit the total costs of patient care due to coverage limitations or other financial factors.

When Is Failure to Order the Right Tests Medical Malpractice?

Although failing to order the wrong diagnostic tests can have dire consequences for patients, it isn’t always considered medical malpractice. It only constitutes medical malpractice when doctors fail to provide the accepted standard of care and patients suffer harm as a result.

Doctors may be guilty of medical malpractice if they:

• Ignore test recommendations from specialists or other providers
• Deviate from standard procedures
• Overlook clear symptoms
• Neglect obvious diagnostic paths
• Fail to follow up with test results
• Misinterpret test results

One question to ask is whether a competent doctor would have ordered the same tests given the patient’s medical history, symptoms, and other case-specific factors, and if they would have responded to test results in the same way.

Why Pursuing Medical Malpractice Claims Can Be Challenging

Medical malpractice claims hold doctors accountable for their actions or inaction. This sets the stage for a higher standard of care for future patients. These claims also provide justice and financial relief for people who’ve been harmed by medical negligence, including:

• Financial compensation for the costs of resulting injuries
• Compensation for non-economic damages
• Wrongful death compensation

Unfortunately, pursuing a medical malpractice claim is rarely easy. Patients have the burden of proving four separate things. Also known as the “4 D’s” of medical malpractice, these are:

• Duty
• Dereliction
• Direct cause
• Damages

Duty establishes that there was a doctor-patient relationship and a legal obligation for the doctor to provide the accepted standard of care. Dereliction shows that medical professionals failed to meet the accepted standard of care. Direct cause associates this failing with the resulting injuries, and damages define these injuries and other losses or harm.

The best way to pursue a medical malpractice claim is by working with a seasoned medical malpractice lawyer. Lawyers like the attorneys at Schweickert Ganassin Krzak Rundio, LLP who specialize in malpractice claims are well-versed in the “4 D’s” and the burden of proof. They help their clients collect critical evidence, access expert witnesses, calculate economic losses, and negotiate fair compensation amounts. With the right legal representation, dealing with complex medical terminology, aggressive claims adjustors, and the other challenges of malpractice becomes infinitely easier.