Failure to Diagnose
One of the most basic—and often the most difficult—jobs in medicine is to reach a diagnosis. A missed diagnosis means the patient does not receive needed treatment or receives treatment that may even be harmful.
When a professional fails to properly diagnose a disease or injury it may involve a medical mistake such as the failure to
- Order proper diagnostic tests,
- Interpret diagnostic tests, or
- Recognize the significance of a patient’s symptoms.
