When a doctor gets a diagnosis wrong, or takes too long to make the correct one, the consequences can be life-altering. In Seattle and across Washington State, misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are two of the most common bases for medical malpractice claims. While they sound similar, they are legally and medically distinct.
Understanding the difference can help injured patients and families determine whether they may have a valid medical malpractice case.
What Is a Misdiagnosis?
A misdiagnosis occurs when a healthcare provider identifies the wrong condition altogether. In these cases, the provider reaches a conclusion but that conclusion is incorrect.
Common examples of misdiagnosis include:
- Diagnosing anxiety instead of a heart attack,
- Labeling cancer symptoms as a benign condition,
- Mistaking a stroke for intoxication or migraine, and
- Diagnosing the wrong type or stage of cancer.
Misdiagnosis often leads to incorrect treatment, which can worsen the patient’s condition or cause unnecessary harm. In some cases, the patient never receives the treatment they actually needed.
What Is a Delayed Diagnosis?
A delayed diagnosis happens when a provider eventually reaches the correct diagnosis, but not in a timely manner. The delay may be caused by missed test results, failure to order appropriate testing, or not referring the patient to a specialist.
Examples of delayed diagnosis include:
- Failing to order imaging or lab work despite red flags,
- Ignoring abnormal test results,
- Delaying referral to an oncologist or specialist, and
- Repeatedly dismissing worsening symptoms.
In delayed diagnosis cases, the issue is not that the provider was wrong – it’s that they were too late, and that delay caused harm.
Why the Distinction Matters in a Washington Medical Malpractice Case
Under Washington law, not every diagnostic error qualifies as medical malpractice. To succeed in either a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis claim, a patient must generally prove:
- The healthcare provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care,
- That failure caused a worsening outcome, and
- The patient suffered actual damages as a result.
The difference between misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis often affects how causation is analyzed.
For example, misdiagnosis cases focus on:
- Whether a reasonably careful provider would have reached the correct diagnosis, or
- Whether the wrong diagnosis led to harmful or unnecessary treatment.
In contrast, delayed diagnosis cases focus on:
- How long the diagnosis was delayed, or
- Whether earlier diagnosis would have changed the outcome.
In Washington, expert medical testimony is almost always required to establish what should have happened and how the error affected the patient’s prognosis.
Contact Otorowski & Golden, PLLC
Please know that our firm is here to help if you were injured due to a medical provider’s malpractice. Otorowski & Golden, PLLC provides free consultations to all our potential clients. The attorneys at our law firm also have over 120 years of combined experience representing injured parties in medical malpractice cases. They never back down to insurers and fight for their clients’ interests every step of the way. Do yourself a favor and contact them now for the quality legal representation you deserve.