Access to Patient’s Medical History Can Help Reduce Misdiagnosis
16July2013
Diagnostic errors and misdiagnosis are the leading causes of the medical malpractice claims that are filed across the country, according to a recent study. The American Medical Association estimates that 150,000 Americans suffer from misdiagnoses every year. One in three of those errors leads to death or long-term devastating injury.
There is a strong focus on reducing the rates of hospital-acquired infections around the country, but not enough attention is being paid to reducing diagnostic errors, despite the equally deadly consequences.
‘CBS This Morning: Saturday’ recently ran a segment on the growing number of diagnostic errors and how to prevent them.
A major contributor to diagnostic errors is that overstressed and overworked doctors fail to provide enough individual attention to each patient. Without one-on-one patient interaction, a doctor may miss a patient’s version of symptoms and arrive at an incorrect diagnosis.
Overworked doctors are also less likely to follow up on the results of diagnostic tests or miss important information in the tests, leading to misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses. Both of these situations can increase the risk of devastating injury to patients.
Experts recommend that every patient have an electronic medical file that contains documentation of their entire medical history. This makes it less likely that a doctor will overlook critical information in a patient’s history. Timely, convenient, and efficient access to medical information is key to reducing the risk of such diagnosis errors.
The medical malpractice lawyers at Morrow Kidman Tinker Macey-Cushman, PLLC represent victims of medical negligence by doctors, nurses, technicians, and other medical personnel in Seattle and across Washington.
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