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  • Failure to Treat

Injury from Failure to Treat Help When You Need It Most

Experienced, skilled malpractice attorneys equipped to identify negligent treatment by healthcare providers and prosecute your case

For the most part, when patients visit their doctors with unexplained signs of physical distress, they do not have a concrete idea of the cause of their illness, leaving them to rely fully upon their doctor’s advice and experience. Because illnesses and conditions manifest in a variety of ways, doctors must take a structured approach when diagnosing a patient in order to develop appropriate treatment. Shortcuts in diagnostic practices can lead to injurious treatment — or no treatment at all.

The dedicated attorneys at The Malpractice Law Firm Jack H. Olender & Associates, PC understand that failure to diagnose the underlying cause of a patient’s illness seldom leads to effective medical treatment. By combining our own knowledge in the fields of law and medicine with a network of medical professionals, we have the skills and resources to determine when negligence causes a patient’s injury through a failure to treat. The Olender law firm has the extra distinct advantage of employing a physician/lawyer and nurse/lawyer to help us prepare the case and point us in the right direction.

Types of treatment failures

No one can expect guaranteed success from medical treatment, so treatment failure does not automatically indicate malpractice. But healthcare providers have a responsibility to utilize patient histories, diagnostic testing and other available resources to arrive at the most accurate diagnosis possible before initiating treatment. When doctors rush to start treatment, the consequences to patients can be severe as in the following examples:

  • Under treatment — Recommending home remedies, dietary changes or no treatment at all can delay healing. In some cases, a patient’s condition can continue to worsen with significant adverse results.
  • Delayed treatment — Certain conditions, such as cancer, heart disease or stroke, require rapid treatment to maximize the potential for recovery. Treatment delays can leave patients with untreatable conditions, often leading to reduced life expectancy.
  • Incorrect treatment — In addition to failing to cure a condition, the wrong prescription, therapy or medical procedure can cause substantial new medical concerns.

Misdiagnosis leads to treatment failures

Reported symptoms can help physicians narrow down the possible causes of an illness. But when physicians rely solely on symptoms reported by patients rather than performing diagnostic tests, they can fail to treat or initiate incorrect treatments, often with devastating results to the patient.

An example can best illustrate the importance of accurate diagnosis prior to treatment. A patient who recently ate raw foods or other suspicious items might report gastrointestinal distress assumed to be caused by a food borne illness. While an online primer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the symptoms are consistent with a food borne illness, it also indicates that additional testing is vital to rule out other causes of the distress. Without appropriate diagnostic testing, the doctor may not rule out cancer or other conditions with the same symptoms. By treating food poisoning, the physician may delay lifesaving treatment for the actual condition.

At Jack H. Olender & Associates, PC, we approach every case as a team. We combine our attorneys’ 200 years of malpractice and injury law experience to produce an indomitable resource for victims of avoidable tragedies.

Let our team help you

Contact us to see the difference our exceptional medical malpractice and catastrophic personal injury attorneys can make in your case and in your life. There is no risk in calling us. Our firm does not charge a consultation fee to meet with clients and assess their particular case. We work on a contingent (percentage) fee arrangement, so no legal fees are paid if money is not recovered on your behalf. We practice in District of Columbia and Maryland courts

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