South Carolina Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Timely diagnosis is critical to a good outcome for treatable medical conditions. This is true both for conditions that threaten the life of the patient and those that impact their quality of life. All too often, doctors overlook symptoms reported by patients or fail to order adequate testing when patients present issues.

In the case of reproductive health issues, delays and diagnostic failures by doctors can have devastating results. In some cases, they may result in infertility issues that prevent a family from growing. Other times, the delay can severely impact the patient's quality of life or even their ability to retain a job.

Cancer is likely one of the most feared diagnoses that modern patients have to worry about when visiting the doctor. After all, there are many kinds of cancer, many of which have reputations for being painful and debilitating. More importantly, the treatments that come along with a cancer diagnosis can seem frightening to a patient.

Chemotherapy can leave somebody weak and result in a loss of both appetite and hair. Radiation treatments can impact appetite and further weaken a patient. Surgeries can take weeks to fully recover from, even if they are necessary for removing a tumor. Getting an accurate diagnosis of cancer is certainly frightening, but not receiving a timely diagnosis is a more serious concern for patients. After all, the cancer will continue growing, untreated, until you receive an accurate diagnosis.

Not so long ago, some elderly patients couldn't avoid developing bedsores. Weight loss during aging would leave them particularly bony and susceptible to these developing bedsores. Thankfully, modern technology has made it much easier for nursing home aides and workers to provide adequate cushioning and relief to people who are immobilized.

Unfortunately, social perception has not caught up with this improvement and many people still assume that bedsores are a common and reasonable side effect of being bedridden. If you notice that your loved one has developed a bedsore while in a nursing home, that may be an early warning sign of neglect and inadequate care.

As someone who has smoked for many years, you knew that you were in trouble when the link to cancer and other illnesses was finally made. You'd struggled with weakness and dizziness for years. You were tired and pale.

You'd gone to the doctor, but no one at the time believed anything was a result of smoking. They told you it was probably because of age. Now, you have been diagnosed with emphysema and know that the disease has gotten much worse faster than it would have with a proper diagnosis years ago.