Every step of medical treatment is essential to providing a patient with an accurate diagnosis and a helpful solution. Unfortunately, this means that any error during treatment can lead to inaccuracies, and potentially, injuries.
Although medical malpractice commonly involves surgical errors, anesthesia errors, or other issues that occur during treatment, medical malpractice can occur before treatment begins too. When diagnostic testing is inaccurate, it can impact the entire treatment process — and multiple parties could be liable.
Doctor/Nurse Liability
In any medical malpractice case, the attending doctors and nurses will be initially considered as the liable party. Your doctor could be liable for testing errors and a resulting misdiagnosis if the results were accurate, but the doctor interpreted the reports incorrectly. It’s possible that a nurse or assistant may be responsible for interpreting test results rather than the doctor, in which case they would be liable for medical malpractice. However, a doctor could also be liable as the supervisor of the at-fault nurse or assistant.
Technician Liability
Cases of diagnostic testing errors introduce another party that could be liable for medical malpractice: The technician who completed the tests. A technician may be employed by the hospital, or could work for a third party that provides testing services to medical facilities. Either way, they could be liable for medical malpractice if their error results in a patient’s injuries. Determining the fault of a technician can be done by establishing that the results were inaccurate before they were given to the doctor, and by ruling out any issues with the testing equipment.
Equipment Issues
If a testing error is to blame for a misdiagnosis or another instance of medical malpractice, it’s possible that the error could have been caused by an issue with the testing equipment. In these cases, multiple parties could be at fault. The company that manufactured the equipment, anyone responsible for maintaining and repairing the equipment, or employees of the testing companies could be responsible.
Hospital/Organizational Liability
Medical testing errors can also be caused by negligence throughout the hospital’s organization. It’s possible that testing errors can be the result of inadequate job training by hospital administration, the hospital’s failure to provide up-to-date testing equipment, or the hospital’s decision to hire an incompetent testing company.
At Golomb Legal, P.C., our lawyers can evaluate the details of your medical malpractice case to determine who is liable for your injuries. We are dedicated to holding negligent parties accountable and helping victims recover.
If you would like to schedule a free consultation with our attorneys, our legal team can be contacted through our online form or by calling (215) 278-4449.