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Doctors may be highly educated, but that doesn’t mean they’re infallible. Just like anyone else, they’re capable of making mistakes. Although you should be able to trust doctors, they’re not perfect, and there are times when they get it wrong or you might doubt what they have to say. Ultimately, you’re the one who is in charge of your health and medical care. If you think that you have been given an incorrect diagnosis by a doctor or another medical professional, you don’t have to accept it. There are steps you can take to ensure you get the right diagnosis and the best recommended treatment.
Go Back to Your Doctor
You might want to start by returning to the doctor you saw originally. This is particularly important if you’re experiencing new symptoms or any existing symptoms have got worse. Providing your doctor with new information can help them to assess your health more accurately, which could mean they change their mind about your diagnosis. Good communication between doctor and patient is important. If you’re unsure of your diagnosis, communicating that to your doctor could be the first step to checking whether it’s accurate and determining if your doctor needs to reassess.
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Get a Second Opinion
A second opinion from another doctor or medical professional can also be really helpful if you think you might have been given an incorrect diagnosis. In fact, many doctors will refer you to someone else or encourage a second opinion if they’re unsure about a diagnosis themselves. Getting a second opinion could include seeking out a specialist, if you’ve previously only seen a general practitioner. Or if you’ve already seen a specialist, you might look for someone different or someone with a particular interest in and experience of the medical issues that you are having.
Pursue Legal Avenues
If you determine that a medical professional misdiagnosed you, you might be interested in seeking some kind of compensation for that. Maybe you simply want an acknowledgement of the incorrect diagnosis, or perhaps you’re seeking financial compensation. Speaking to a medical malpractice lawyer is a good first step if you think you might have a legal case. You can get advice on your case and find out about potential outcomes. It can sometimes be a complicated legal area, so it’s smart to get advice from a qualified attorney who has experience specifically in medical malpractice.
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Focus on Your Health
No matter what you decide to do, your health should be your priority. If it turns out you were misdiagnosed, getting the correct diagnosis and treatment should be the first thing that you think about doing. Even if you decide to pursue a legal case, be sure to allow yourself time to focus on your health and seek the right treatment. If there are any health consequences from the misdiagnosis, these are important to address too. Or if it turns out you had the correct diagnosis, you might want to access some resources to process it.
Getting an incorrect diagnosis is always a possibility. If you think it’s happened to you, there are several routes you can take to work out what happens next.