People need to know what causes their medical symptoms to properly treat them. A doctor’s insight is typically necessary to determine what condition a patient has. The medical diagnostic process is complex.
First, physicians gather information about a person’s condition and their medical history. Next, they seek to rule out certain conditions that could cause those symptoms. Other times, they can conduct tests that allow for an affirmative diagnosis. Imaging tests or bacterial cultures can help verify the exact cause of a patient’s symptoms. Unfortunately, some doctors rush through the diagnostic process and reach the wrong conclusion. Other times, doctors fail to diagnose patients completely.
Diagnostic errors can lead to patients not getting the care that they need to recover or receiving inappropriate treatment for the wrong condition. Although diagnostic errors can potentially happen to anyone, female patients are at especially high risk.
Why do doctors misdiagnose female patients?
Women may face an uphill battle when seeking a diagnosis in a healthcare setting. Implicit bias can influence how doctors, particularly older physicians, treat female patients. They may minimize or outright ignore a patient’s self-reported symptoms. Such conduct is one of the reasons why women often wait up to four years longer than men for a diagnosis when they have chronic medical conditions.
Additionally, a lack of education regarding how major medical events present differently based on sex is an issue. During major medical events, misdiagnosis risk is high. Women are 50% more likely to not receive a proper diagnosis after a heart attack. Misdiagnosis after a stroke is also 25% more common for women.
Women are also likely to downplay their symptoms because they feel like they have to continue taking care of others instead of prioritizing their own health. All of these factors combined can lead to women not receiving the diagnostic care that they require and therefore not receiving appropriate treatment.
If a doctor fails to reach an appropriate diagnosis for a female patient, that can sometimes constitute malpractice. Proving that another physician could have diagnosed a patient properly might be the first step toward a medical malpractice lawsuit. Successful diagnosis-related malpractice lawsuits can compensate people for lost wages and medical expenses.