Getting a diagnosis for an illness, particularly a terminal one, is one of the scariest things a patient can face. However, what if a diagnosis was an error, in other words, a false positive?
A false positive is a test result that states you have a certain condition or disease, but it turns out you aren’t sick or have another ailment. Many false positives derive from lab testing mistakes or patient record mix-ups.
Depending on the diagnosis, your doctor might advise you to seek surgery to remedy the problem. But the surgery could be a waste of time — or worse — a mistake that fails to address a bigger health issue.
You could seek out unnecessary (and expensive) surgical procedures
For example, your doctor tells you that you have melanoma on your leg since it showed up only weeks before. You then schedule a surgery appointment to stop the cancer from getting worse. Some time afterward, you discover the “cancer” was only a harmless mole.
You’re devastated because you took time off work and spent days in the hospital getting operated on for nothing and wasting money in the process.
The surgeon could operate on the wrong body part
Suppose you receive news that you need heart surgery. Weeks later, you still feel sick even with surgical treatment. It turns out that you didn’t need heart surgery; you needed an operation on your liver. The hospital mixed your medical records up with someone else’s.
Not only are you stressed about being ill, but you’re in debt, too.
Because false positives show up now and then, it’s highly recommended that you request another lab test or visit another physician for a second opinion if you have doubts. Your health may depend on it.
If you or a loved one suffered from surgical errors due to non-existent or overlooked ailments, you may be entitled to monetary compensation. Seek legal assistance to get started.