When a person starts to feel unwell, they will make attendances upon various medical professionals depending on the symptoms they are experiencing. During such attendances, the medical professionals should obtain appropriate details of the patient’s medical history and symptoms, perform an examination and instigate appropriate investigations or treatment plan.
However, some medical professionals fail to take a patient’s history, or they do not note all of the patient’s symptoms, or they fail to refer the patient to undergo appropriate investigations, or there is a failure to interpret investigations appropriately. Also, administrative errors can occur which led to patients not receiving appointments to see a specialist or there are delays in scheduling appointments to undergo tests or medical treatment.
When failings such as these occur patients may be misdiagnosed, this can lead to a patient either receiving no treatment at all or treatment which is inappropriate for their condition. Such errors can lead to serious damage and injury to the patient.