Identifying a disease or an injury is essential to ensuring that a patient receives the best possible treatment and is given the best chance of recovery. Failing to diagnose an illness or injury promptly can have devastating and sometimes fatal consequences for the patient. Thankfully, the majority of medical practitioners in Ireland provide their patients with a prompt and accurate diagnosis. However, sometimes mistakes are made, and in such instances the patient may have a delayed diagnosis medical negligence claim*.
Why Hanahoe & Hanahoe LLP?
We are expert, award-winning, medical negligence solicitors*, who have been representing clients in medical negligence claims* for over 40 years. We understand the devastating effects a delayed diagnosis can have on clients, so we ensure that our clients are not just provided with the appropriate advice, but that they are treated with compassion and empathy. We also understand that bringing a delayed diagnosis claim* can be both daunting and stressful for our client. As such, we ensure that we manage the entire process for the client, from taking up their medical records, obtaining the opinion from the appropriate expert, briefing counsel, issuing proceedings and bringing the matter to a successful conclusion.
What is delayed diagnosis?
Delayed diagnosis is where the correct diagnosis is eventually made, but it is not made in a prompt or timely manner. This can result in a disease spreading unnecessarily, a patient needing more evasive treatment, a patient’s recovery being more protracted, and in some tragic circumstances, such as the delayed diagnosis of cancer, a patient’s diagnosis becoming terminal.
What is the difference between missed diagnosis and delayed diagnosis?
Missed diagnosis is where a medical practitioner does not diagnose the patient’s condition correctly. This can be because the medical practitioner attributes the patient’s symptoms to a wrong illness, or he fails to diagnose an illness at all.
Delayed diagnosis is where the medical practitioner makes the correct diagnosis, but the diagnosis is made in an untimely fashion.
Both missed diagnosis and delayed diagnosis can have devastating effects on the patient, and both can lead to the patient having a stateable medical negligence compensation claim*.
Common causes of delayed diagnosis
Delayed diagnosis can happen in any medical sphere, however the most common areas where our medical negligence solicitors see delayed diagnosis is in: –
- Failing to diagnose cancer in a timely fashion.
- Failing to diagnose appendicitis in a timely fashion.
- Failing to diagnose sepsis in a timely fashion.
- Failing to read x-rays properly and diagnose fractures or breaks.
- In the obstetrics sphere, failing to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy.
- Failures to diagnose in A&E where immediate treatment is critical.
- Failure of GPs to make the appropriate referral.
Delayed diagnosis by a GP
Most GPs in Ireland are of a very high standard, and they often err on the side of caution and refer a patient to a specialist if there is even a hint of a patient presenting with symptoms of a disease or injury. However, sometimes a GP may fail to recognise the symptoms of a potential disease or injury, resulting in them failing to refer the patient to the appropriate specialist in a timely manner. If this delay in referral results in the disease spreading unnecessarily; the patient needing more evasive treatment such as surgery; the patient’s recovery becoming more protracted; the patient failing to make a recovery, the patient may potentially have a delayed diagnosis claim*.
The most common delayed diagnosis we see from a GP are:
- Failing to refer a patient to an oncologist in a timely manner
- Failing to recognise the signs of a stroke and failing to make the necessary referral
- Failing to refer a patient to the appropriate specialist
- Failing to refer a patient to A&E in a timely manner
- Failing to request a diagnostic test in a timely manner
Delayed diagnosis by A&E
A&E Departments in Ireland are incredibly busy and as such missed or delayed diagnoses more frequently occur. A failure to properly diagnose in A&E can result in a patient being discharged when they ought to have been admitted or referred. If you were in A&E and they failed to properly diagnosed, you may potentially have a medical negligence claim*.
The most common delayed diagnosis we see from A&E departments are:
- Failing to diagnose a patient and discharging them
- Failing to perform the necessary scans or x-rays
- Failing to refer a patient to the appropriate specialist in a timely manner
- Failing to diagnose a broken or fractured bone in a timely manner
- Failing to diagnose condition like appendicitis or sepsis in a timely manner
Are delayed diagnoses always negligent?
A delayed diagnosis in and of itself does not necessarily mean that you have a stateable medical negligence claim*. A delayed diagnosis can be the result of a variety of factors, some of which can be out of the medical practitioner’s control. It is also possible for there to be a delay in diagnosis which has not resulted in an injury. In order for you to have a delayed diagnosis claim*, there has to be a breach of duty of care on the behalf of the medical practitioner that resulted in an injury. If a medical practitioner has overlooked clear symptoms or has failed to follow diagnostic protocols and this has resulted in you sustaining an injury, then you potentially have a valid medical negligence claim*.
How do I bring a delayed diagnosis claim*?
In order to bring a claim for medical negligence* due to delayed diagnosis, you will have to be able to show that there has: –
- Been a breach of duty of care on behalf of your medical practitioners; and
- That you have sustained an injury as a result of this breach of duty.
If you believe that you have been injured as a result of a delayed diagnosis, you should contact experienced medical negligence solicitors like Hanahoe & Hanahoe LLP. We will take a detailed statement from you and thereafter take up a complete copy of your medical records. Once we have taken up your medical records, they will brief an appropriately qualified expert to provide an opinion on whether there has been a breach of duty of care. If this opinion identifies a breach of duty of care, we will write an initiating letter to the appropriate medical practitioner or hospital. We will then brief counsel to draft proceedings and serve them on the appropriate medical practitioner or hospital.
Thereafter, it will be necessary for us to obtain further expert reports setting out what injuries you have sustained as a result of the delayed diagnosis. Once we have obtained the necessary reports we will either hopefully settle the case or alternatively call the matter on for hearing.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to bring a delayed diagnosis case*?
You have two years from the date of knowledge of any potential negligence. What your date of knowledge is will depend on the individual facts of your case. There is a strict statute of limitation for medical negligence cases* and therefore it is essential that you seek legal advice at the earliest possible opportunity. Nothing on our website should be taken as legal advice*
How long does a delayed diagnosis case* take?
Every case is different. It is impossible to say how long a case will take, as it will depend on a variety of factors such;
- Whether liability is at issue
- How badly the patient is injured
- How long it takes the patient to recover
- How many defendants there are
- What is the defendant’s attitude to settling
When should I contact a solicitor?
Given the strict statute of limitations in medical negligence claims*, we would
recommend that you contact a solicitor as soon as possible. We would also recommend that you contact a firm like Hanahoe and Hanahoe LLP, which has expertise is medical negligence cases. There is a lot of work that needs to be carried out before you can issue proceedings. Firstly, we have to take up your medical records, then we have to brief an expert and then we have to brief a barrister. As such the earlier you contact a solicitor the better.
*In contentious business, a solicitor cannot calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.