Most people will experience at least one diagnostic error
in their lifetime!
According to a 2015 report by the National Academies of
Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, "Improving Diagnosis in Health
Care", "diagnostic errors persist throughout all settings of care and
continue to harm an unacceptable number of patients."
What can you do to prevent diagnostic errors? Make sure the healthcare provider is truly
listening to you, and not just sitting before a computer throwing out questions
and pecking away at a key board. Listening
by a healthcare provider requires eye contact, asking pertinent thoughtful
questions relating to your statements.
"Patients and their families are critical partners in the
diagnostic process," states the report. As patients and family members we must insist
on healthcare providers listening to us and not treating us as items on a
conveyor belt. To be sure, there are
many reasons for diagnostic errors including failure to order tests, failure to
consider test results, failure to follow-up, failure to consult with
specialists, and personal biases by the healthcare provider. While we can ask for tests and request second
opinions, our first opportunity is to insist that our healthcare provider
actually listen to what we have to say and care about what are saying. As distractions, electronics, patient
processing urgencies tax the attention span of our healthcare providers we need
to demand they listen first. If you find
you cannot get the healthcare provider to listen then it's time to ask to see
someone else. We have the right to be a
patient and not a victim.
If you or a loved has been the victim of the failure to
diagnose or misdiagnosis call an attorney to discuss your rights.
