Medical Misdiagnosis Attorney
Misdiagnosis of medical conditions can lead to the wrong treatment, improper drug prescriptions, and treatments that worsen your condition. Fortunately, you can recover compensation by suing your healthcare provider for medical misdiagnosis. Contact our experienced California medical misdiagnosis lawyers to learn more about your options.
Receiving an inaccurate diagnosis can lead to severe consequences. For one, you are deprived of the required treatment for your condition. You may also be given harmful drugs and treatment for illnesses you don’t have, which may worsen your condition. In some cases, misdiagnosis can even result in wrongful death.
If you or a loved one have been harmed by misdiagnosis, you can recover compensation for these damages by bringing a medical misdiagnosis lawsuit against the responsible health care provider(s).
At Cutter Law, our experienced California medical malpractice attorneys will help you every step of the way by thoroughly analyzing your case. Reliable, tenacious, and knowledgeable, we will fight tooth and nail to secure the compensation you deserve. We have secured millions in settlements and verdicts for our injured clients, including:
- $240 million settlement for a defective medical device lawsuit
- $7.6 million verdict for a spinal cord injury lawsuit
- $1.895 million verdict for an injured cyclist lawsuit
- $23.5 million settlement for a whistleblower case
If you suffered injuries due to an inaccurate diagnosis, call our California medical misdiagnosis lawyers at (916) 290-9400 for your free consultation. Our skilled legal team will work on your behalf to build a strong compensation claim. We have offices in Oakland, Sacramento, and Santa Rosa.
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Our Attorneys Are Equipped to Fight and Win
At Cutter Law, our California medical misdiagnosis attorneys will handle your case with professionalism, sensitivity to your physical and mental state following a preventable medical misdiagnosis, and the unparalleled tenacity that makes our firm one of the most reputable and respected personal injury law firms in California.
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Analyzing Whether You Have a Claim
First, our lawyers will thoroughly analyze your case to see if you have a viable claim. If you have a viable claim, we will create an action plan to maximize compensation.
Gathering and Preserving Evidence
The next step is to gather and preserve paperwork to show medical errors that happened while you were undergoing treatments or attending doctor’s appointments. This evidence will:
- Give us a framework to build the case
- Bolster your claim
- Establish you had a doctor-patient relationship with the party or parties you’re suing
- Demonstrate your doctor’s negligence
If needed, we will help you get second opinions on the medical treatment you received to prove that your doctor misdiagnosed you. We may also find other doctors to be expert witnesses if the case goes to court. Expert witnesses are people who can testify at trial due to their proficiency or special knowledge in a particular field that is relevant to the case.
Dealing With Pre-Trial Processes and Negotiating With the Other Lawyer
After we’ve filed your paperwork in accordance with California statutes of limitations, we will handle pre-trial processes such as case management conferences and settlement negotiations. Your legal team will handle all communication with your doctor’s lawyer, so you can focus on recovering and getting your life back together.
Representing You in Court
Most parties agree to settlements to resolve medical misdiagnosis lawsuits. However, if we can’t agree on suitable compensation, we will take your case to trial and demand that you get the justice you deserve.
Types of Compensation Available in California Medical Misdiagnosis Cases
You can recover the following types of compensation for medical misdiagnosis in California:
- Economic or special damages: These are easily quantifiable costs that you have incurred as a result of misdiagnosis. Examples include lost wages and medical bills.
- Non-economic or general damages: These damages — including emotional distress, pain and suffering, diminished quality of life, loss of consortium or companionship, and permanent disfigurement — can’t be determined using documented medical bills and receipts.
- Punitive damages: In rare instances, courts award punitive damages when there is convincing and clear evidence that a health care provider misdiagnosed their patient intentionally or with a conscious disregard for your safety and health. Courts use punitive damages to punish and deter reckless conduct.
Time Limits to File for a Medical Misdiagnosis
According to California’s medical malpractice statute of limitations, you have one year from the date you knew or should have known about the injury to file your claim. If there were extenuating circumstances that prevented you from finding out about the injury sooner, you have up to three years.
Always discuss your exact situation and how it affects your deadline to file a claim with your attorney as soon as possible to avoid missing your window of opportunity and being barred from taking legal action.
Proving Your Medical Misdiagnosis Cases
To sue for medical misdiagnosis, you must prove the following four elements:
- Duty: You must prove that your doctor had the duty to care for you. Normally, the doctor has a duty to act as a reasonably competent doctor when there is a doctor-patient relationship.
- Breach of duty: You must prove that the doctor breached their duty to care for you. Note that misdiagnosis does not necessarily mean the doctor was negligent. You must show that another reasonably competent doctor would have diagnosed your condition(s) properly to show that your doctor breached their duty.
- Causation: If the doctor’s misdiagnosis didn’t actually harm you, you can’t sue for medical misdiagnosis.
- Damages: If the misdiagnosis did not result in any damages, you can’t build a solid case. To illustrate, suppose your doctor misdiagnosed you with recurring bronchitis instead of asthma. However, the doctor prescribed you medication that also treated your asthma. Because you didn’t suffer any damages due to the misdiagnosis, you have no case.
Common Types of Misdiagnosis
There are many types of misdiagnosis, including:
- Delayed diagnosis: The doctor fails to diagnose a condition or illness promptly, and the patient suffers due to the delay.
- Missed diagnosis: The doctor dismisses the presence of any condition entirely and tells the patient that they are healthy. In reality, the patient has a disease or illness.
- Failure to diagnose a related condition: Some illnesses increase the risk of having related conditions. In this type of misdiagnosis, a doctor may correctly identify one disease but fail to detect other conditions that are closely linked to the primary disease.
- Failure to diagnose an unrelated disease: A doctor may correctly diagnose one condition but lack the foresight, patience, and expertise to identify another unlikely illness.
- Failure to identify complications: A doctor properly diagnoses a condition but fails to explain how it may behave or factors that could worsen it.
What Types of Misdiagnosis Qualify as Malpractice?
California law does not hold doctors liable for all misdiagnoses. Misdiagnoses only qualify as malpractice if the patient can prove that a doctor in the same field, under similar circumstances, would not have misdiagnosed the patient’s condition or illness.
This usually means proving either of the following:
- The doctor failed to include the correct diagnosis on the differential diagnosis list that a doctor with similar training and experience would have.
- The doctor included the right diagnosis on the differential diagnosis list but failed to seek opinions from specialists or perform appropriate tests to determine the diagnosis’ viability.
Cancer Misdiagnosis
Cancer misdiagnosis is one of the most serious types of medical misdiagnosis. Like other types of medical misdiagnosis, you can sue your doctor for cancer misdiagnosis if you can prove the four elements of negligence.
Contact our California cancer misdiagnosis lawyers to learn more about your options.
FAQs
Can you sue a doctor for misdiagnosis in California?
Yes, you can sue a doctor for misdiagnosis in California. Talk to a California personal injury attorney at Cutter Law P.C. to learn whether you have a viable case.
Is there a cap on medical misdiagnosis damages in California?
Yes. California has a medical malpractice damages cap on non-economic damages of $350,000 in 2023. It will rise by $40,000 per year until 2034 when the new cap reaches $750,000. By that time, the cap will be adjusted for inflation by 2 percent yearly.
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Our Office Locations
Sacramento Office
401 Watt Avenue Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95864
Phone: 916-290-9400
Oakland Office
Cutter Law P.C.
1999 Harrison Street Suite 1400
Oakland, CA 94612
