Medical Malpractice: Failure to Diagnose Meningitis

Failure to diagnose a medical condition such as meningitis is a serious situation that, unfortunately, is not uncommon in the world of medicine. While doctors and specialists are trained to diagnose illnesses and, in the vast majority of cases, do so efficiently and to the best of their ability, mistakes and negligence happen everywhere, and the medical field is no exception. If your doctor didn't properly diagnose an illness, you may have a failure to diagnose medical malpractice case.

Medical Malpractice for Failure to Diagnose

If you find yourself in a situation where your meningitis was not properly diagnosed, you may be wondering whether you have a lawsuit on your hands. The answer will depend on the specific details of your situation, but in general, if your diagnosis failure is a result of negligence on the part of the medical staff, it may indeed count as malpractice and entitle you to compensation.

Proving negligence is not as easy as it sounds. In order to convince a court of law:

• You will be required to prove that the doctor should have diagnosed your condition – that there was sufficient evidence for him or her to do so, and that the fact that it wasn’t done falls on the doctor. Naturally, the doctor and his or her lawyers will attempt to prove that your case was not possible to diagnose based on the symptoms at the time or other conditions of the situation, and thus the doctor is not to blame, and the failure is simply due to unfortunate circumstances.

• If you do prove negligence, your job doesn’t end there: you also have to prove the damages that you incurred as a result of the failure to diagnose. This will depend on what you have suffered because of it and on whether you would have suffered less had the doctor diagnosed you properly. Everything from time missed at work to mental anguish can and should be considered. In meningitis cases, a missed diagnosis is particularly dangerous because the condition may escalate quickly, and had the diagnosis not been missed, it may have been stopped earlier and potentially not gotten as serious.

Getting Help 

If you’re considering pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit for a failed meningitis diagnosis, your first step is to speak to a good lawyer with a background in these types of cases. He or she will help you gather the information you need to prove your case, and help protect your rights both in and out of the court room as the case moves forward. Winning compensation won’t be easy, but ideally you’ll be rewarded for your work – and your suffering - with a fair and just outcome.