Hospital Lab Test Error Accidents in St. Louis

When a Lab Test Error happens because of the negligence of a doctor, this is known as medical malpractice. Doctors and Medical Professionals receive specialized training that allows them to make the correct decisions in reading lab tests, but unfortunately, the doctor or medical professional that you relied on did not. Because of their negligence, you or someone you care for is now suffering because of a lab test error. Dealing with an issue as complex as a lab test error can be intimidating when you aren’t aware of the laws and statutes surrounding a lab test error claim. To ensure that you or your loved one receives the level of legal care and guidance that you deserve, you need a Lab Test Error lawyer. The St. Louis Lab Test Error Lawyers of Dixon Law are prepared to fight on your behalf to ensure that you and your loved ones get the justice and recovery that you deserve for your lab test error claim.

Dixon Injury Firm provides a broad range of legal services. This includes personal injury, workers compensation, product liability, and other claims. Our St. Louis lab test error lawyers bring professional legal counsel to clients and their families. Please contact us for more info and a free consultation from our medical malpractice lawyers.

When we get sick or injured, we trust in doctors because we believe what they tell us about or ailments. We believe that through their years of study and practice, that they will know best how to treat our illnesses and that they will have our best interests in mind when it comes to the proper medical care for our illnesses. When a doctor’s training is complete, they must take an oath known as the Hippocratic Oath, in which they state that they will prescribe only beneficial treatments according to their abilities and judgments, that they will refrain from causing harm or hurt, and that they will live an exemplary personal and professional life. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.

When you or someone you care for has been harmed because of a lab test error, and you believe that it is the result of doctors, nurses, or lab technicians error, you deserve to be compensated for your injuries. No lab test error should ever go unchallenged, and our St. Louis lab test error lawyers are prepared to fight on behalf of you or your loved one. We understand how families suffer because of lab test errors, and we are dedicated to ensuring that you or your loved one are properly cared for throughout the lab test error case.

Negligence

Very rarely is a medical professional sued for intentionally harming a patient. Instead, medical providers are often held liable for causing damage by acting “negligently” while doing their jobs. Professionals have to make judgment calls and sometimes a professional will make a call that turns out to be wrong in the end. That does not necessarily mean the professional is automatically liable for damages caused by the wrong judgment call. Professionals do not have to be perfect. Instead, a medical professional is liable for a failure to correctly read a report, lab results, or radiology results only when he or she failed to follow the appropriate standard of care for the situation.

Negligence generally has four elements that must be proven before a medical professional can be held liable. First, the injured person must prove there was some duty owed to the injured person. In the case of a medical professional, it is obvious that the professional has a duty to follow a professional standard of care when reading a medical report, lab result, or radiology image. Second, the injured party must prove the duty was breached. That could mean proving that the medical professional failed to take the time to carefully examine the report, result, or image in question. Doctors sometimes get caught signing off on exams without reviewing the information themselves, for example.

The third thing that an injured person has to prove in a negligence claim is that the breach of duty actually caused the harm in question. That could mean if someone was dying from cancer and a technician read their scan wrong, the technician may not have actually caused the death. On the other hand, if a technician wrongly tells a patient he or she is cancer free and the patient dies because the patient did not know he or she needed treatment, then the technician might be liable. Finally, the injured person must show that there were actual damages caused. If a report on a broken arm gets misread and the bone heals naturally, that may not actually cause any damage that could be compensated even if there was some mistake made.

What can happen if my Lab Test was read Incorrectly?

When a lab test is read incorrectly, an ailment can either be miss diagnosed or missed entirely. Either of these outcomes can lead to severe and life-threatening problems for the individual who is trying to figure get an expert opinion on what their sickness or ailment is. Consider this, if a doctor or lab technician wrongly diagnoses a patient with a disorder that requires the removal of an organ, or a sickness that requires a certain type of medicine, the patient may lose an organ or have to take medicine that could be highly detrimental to their health, all because of an error! Correctly reading lab results is critically important to deciding what paths to take when determining someone’s health.

Here are several scenarios that can result from an incorrect lab reading:

  • Diagnosing a disease or disorder in a healthy person. This error may result in unnecessary or even harmful treatment.
  • Failing to diagnose a disease or disorder in someone who is sick. In some instances individuals with cancer have been told that they’re healthy, allowing the disease to advance untreated and unchecked until it’s at an advanced stage.
  • Diagnosing the wrong disease in someone who is sick. A classic example is a woman experiencing a heart attack who is told that she is simply suffering from heartburn or indigestion.

An error in reading or compiling the results of a lab test can be deadly for the person who is relying on the accuracy of those tests. This is why physicians must undergo strenuous training to ensure that they understand what they are reading, and that they can tell when there is an inaccuracy or error in the results. When they fail to take these cautionary steps, the individual the test was compiled for can suffer as a result. When this happens, you need a lawyer experienced in litigating lab test error claims. The St. Louis Lab Results Error Lawyers of Dixon Law have successfully litigated medical malpractice cases before, and understand the pressures and stress that can lead a doctor or physician to make the mistakes that lead to your lab test error. Our Lawyers also know how to hold these doctors and the hospital accountable for their actions. If you need to speak with our lab results error lawyers about your case, please fill out the form on this page.

Why should you choose the St. Louis Lab Test Error Attorneys of Dixon Law to Represent your Lab Test Error Claim?

The time allowed under Missouri law to file a lab results error lawsuit is limited. Generally, a lab results error case must be filed within two years of the date of occurrence. If the lab results error claim involves a foreign object that was left in the body, the suit must be filed within two years of when the object was discovered.

If a loved one dies as a result of the lab test error, Missouri law requires that the wrongful death lawsuit be filed within three years of the death.

Within 90 days of filing a Lab Test Error lawsuit in Missouri, the plaintiff must file an expert affidavit stating that a written opinion has been obtained from a legally qualified healthcare provider regarding the defendant’s negligence. The expert must conclude that the defendant failed to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful healthcare provider would have under similar circumstances and that such failure to use such reasonable care directly caused or directly contributed to cause the damages claimed in the petition (RSMo. Section 538.225 [2009]).

The complicated thing about proving a failure to correctly read a report, lab results, or radiology results, is that it typically requires having a medical professional come in and testify as an expert witness. The other side will usually have an expert with a different point of view. The judge or jury will have to decide what the proper standard was and whether the medical professional in question met that standard.

Compensation available in a lab results error lawsuits is often divided into compensatory damages and punitive damages. Compensatory damages typically cover such items as past and future medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering. Punitive damages are awarded in cases in which the defendant’s conduct is considered willful, wanton or malicious.

We offer free consultations to all lab test error victims and the families of those wrongfully killed. To discuss your case, contact Chris Dixon and the St. Louis Lab Test Error Attorneys of Dixon Law as soon possible to prevent evidence from being lost or destroyed.

Our lab test error attorneys are standing by 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling (314) 208-2808.