The National Patient Safety Foundation stated that 42% of medical patients feel they have experienced a medical error or misdiagnosis, resulting in the cost of medical tests, drugs, and operations. Results from a separate survey of 2,201 in the United States, 35% of those experienced a medical mistake within the past 5 years. Of these, 35% resulted in permanent harm or death. It has also been shown that that at least 44,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors and misdiagnosis. Some signs to look for when a possible misdiagnosis has happen are: current treatment does not seem to be working, symptoms that don’t usually occur with the given diagnosis, diagnosis based on a single lab result, the physician attributes symptoms that are common among other conditions, and the physician references a test that was not performed as a factor in the diagnosis (Nilson,
The National Patient Safety Foundation stated that 42% of medical patients feel they have experienced a medical error or misdiagnosis, resulting in the cost of medical tests, drugs, and operations. Results from a separate survey of 2,201 in the United States, 35% of those experienced a medical mistake within the past 5 years. Of these, 35% resulted in permanent harm or death. It has also been shown that that at least 44,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors and misdiagnosis. Some signs to look for when a possible misdiagnosis has happen are: current treatment does not seem to be working, symptoms that don’t usually occur with the given diagnosis, diagnosis based on a single lab result, the physician attributes symptoms that are common among other conditions, and the physician references a test that was not performed as a factor in the diagnosis (Nilson,