Is Misdiagnosis Always Malpractice?

Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Attorney

Video Transcript:

Tom Mustin: 

Is misdiagnosis always medical malpractice? We ask attorney Daniel Jeck in this Ask The Lawyers Quick Question.

Daniel Jeck: 

Not necessarily. So sometimes people experience what are known as complications in terms of outcome with doctors and hospitals. Complication doesn't necessarily equate to malpractice. Malpractice is when there is a deviation, a substantial deviation or a failure to meet with a standard of care. Another way of putting it is that 99 out of 100 doctors would do it one way, but the one doctor that caused you harm did it another way. It can be either an action that they take that nobody else would take reasonably, or an inaction that nobody would undertake, again, in terms of caring for a patient. So not every misdiagnosis equates to malpractice. But if there has been a misdiagnosis, what's important is, is that you talk to... And there's been substantial harm, it's important to take a look at that and see whether or not there was a sub-standard deviation from the standard of care.

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