Misdiagnosis

Nothing is more frustrating than going to the doctor or hospital for a condition or complaint, only to be misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosis cases are particularly devastating when they involve a delay in diagnosis of cancers, or rapidly developing infections. Here are a few examples:

• Missed tumor on x-ray, resulting in delay in diagnosis of lung cancer
• Missed tumor on mammogram, resulting in delay in diagnosis of breast cancer
• Missed tumor on colonoscopy, resulting in delay in diagnosis of colorectal cancer
• Missed tumor on chest x-ray, resulting in delay in diagnosis of mediastinal tumor
• Mis-read of imaging study, resulting in delay in diagnosis of liver cancer
• Misdiagnosis of cardiac condition, resulting in MI
• Misdiagnosis of appendicitis, resulting in ruptured appendix
• Misdiagnosis of child's headaches as “migraines”, resulting in delayed diagnosis of brain tumor
• Misdiagnosis of child's illness as “flu”, resulting in missed diagnosis of meningitis