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Watch this video to get an answer to “how do health insurance companies detect fraud?” Learn More: What Are Examples Of Health Insurance Fraud? Health Insurance Fraud Or Healthcare Fraud Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:35 How Do Health Insurance Companies Detect Fraud? How Companies Detect Insurance Fraud 0:59 How Do Health Insurance Companies Detect Fraud? Detecting Fraud 1:25 How Do Health Insurance Companies Detect Fraud? Procedural Requirements To File A Fraud Case 1:54 What Happens After The Affidavit Is Filed? 2:34 After The Investigation Healthcare fraud is frequently picked up by insurers. They have compliance officers, they have their own integrity units that constantly review the work performed by those physicians and other providers who are on their panels. They’re able to compare more or less what one provider does versus another. 0:35 How Do Health Insurance Companies Detect Fraud? How Companies Detect Insurance Fraud If you have one particular person who seems to be an outlier. Maybe this person is billing so much more than his peer group or maybe he’s focusing on some single procedure or cluster of procedures where he’s billing these over and over again at very high numbers. Frequently, insurers will pick up on those frauds. 0:59 How Do Health Insurance Companies Detect Fraud? Detecting Fraud Now, they may even investigate those themselves. In the case of a private insurer, if it’s a Medicare supplemental policy that does the initial investigation, Medicare is by definition involved, and they may get the government involved by way of the U.S. Attorney’s office. There are very strict procedural requirements that are required to state a healthcare fraud action. 1:25 How Do Health Insurance Companies Detect Fraud? Procedural Requirements To File A Fraud Case The relator has to file an affidavit describing the fraud. It has to be in-depth. It has to be material. The relator practically has to have an almost complete knowledge of every aspect of the fraud to state a claim in today’s world because there’s some case law out there that makes these cases even more challenging. Once the relator provides the disclosure, the matter is initially filed in the federal district court under seal where no one has access to it. 1:54 What Happens After The Affidavit Is Filed? That occurs for at least six months so that the government can investigate the claims. I say at least six months, under the statute it remains under seal for at least sixty days. The government can virtually never investigate these matters in sixty days, so it’s very common to request consent orders to extend the seal over a prolonged period of time. I’ve got one fraud case now that’s been under seal since 2017, which was four-plus years ago, and we’re still waiting on the government to complete their investigation. 2:34 After The Investigation But again, it stays under seal for purposes of confidentiality and allowing the government to do an in-depth investigation. At that point, the government makes a decision as to whether they want to intervene and move forward on the case themselves or at all times, the relator has the opportunity to do it his or herself. That involves the virtual necessity of an attorney who understands healthcare fraud. Again, find someone who’s experienced, who knows what they’re doing, and can work with you if you suspect you’ve been the victim of fraud. At LawMD, our attorneys are not just award-winning legal professionals; most of them are also medical doctors. Our team comprises medical professionals with specialties and capacity in emergency medicine, surgery, pediatrics, radiology, dentistry, and a number of other specialties and subspecialties. We also consist of highly respected trial lawyers, seasoned negotiators, and experienced litigators. It is this winning combination of legal and medical knowledge that earns our reputation among many as the legal team with “the right medicine for justice.”

What to do in a situation involving a failure to diagnose a heart attack and heart disease? Watch our video below and learn more about early diagnosis and diagnosing heart disease. Learn More: What Is Failure to Diagnose? Can You Sue a Doctor for Failure to Diagnose? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:18 Index Of Suspicion 0:35 Timely Diagnosis 1:18 Reperfusion and Sequelae It’s virtually impossible to fail to diagnose a heart attack today. 0:18 Failure to Diagnose Heart Attack and Heart Disease: Index Of Suspicion If one has a reasonable index of suspicion that a patient is suffering a heart attack which usually involves chest pain, maybe with excessive sweating which is called diaphoresis, and maybe with chest pain that radiates particularly to the left arm. 0:35 Timely Diagnosis If you have any of those symptoms, you should immediately consult a healthcare provider because again, all it takes to diagnose a heart attack is a simple blood test to show whether you have any heart muscle enzymes in your blood that would go along with death of the myocardial or heart muscle cells. Again, you want to diagnose a heart attack as early as possible. 1:18 Reperfusion and Sequelae You want to get the patient potentially on some blood-thinning agents as soon as possible and early initiation of drugs, so-called clot busters may halt a heart attack in its tracks and allow the heart to be re-perfused, minimizing damage to the heart muscle and perhaps leaving the patient with really minimal adverse sequelae. These folks can usually resume a normal lifespan. They may have to go on medication for heart disease, but even taking that medication, they can still lead a very good life. In regard to heart disease, we talk a lot about angina, which is basically just chest pain that occurs usually due to a decrease in blood flow to the heart muscle. These patients have chest pain. Again, they may have profuse sweating, they may have pain that radiates into the left arm, they may grasp their chest. These are symptoms that must be evaluated by a healthcare professional, perhaps early on with blood work, simply to be sure that the patient’s not had a heart attack. There may be a place for echocardiography to determine if the heart is beating and pumping properly. There may be a place for cardiac catheterization where intravenous contrast is actually injected into the coronary arteries to be sure that the heart is getting enough blood. Remember, a heart attack is solely due to the heart not getting enough blood. Multiple interventions, angioplasty placement of a stent, in some cases, coronary artery bypass grafting, are all effective at treating heart disease. Again, the real issue here in timely diagnosis is that yes, there is very effective treatment available if you’re diagnosed early. So don’t take it for granted. Have these studies done, see your healthcare professional, and again, allow him or her to sort through the various diagnoses when diagnosing heart disease and then receive effective treatment. If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to negligent diagnosis of a heart attack, contact the Medical-Legal team at LawMD. More than 10 of our lawyers are also physicians. For serious injuries, LawMD is the right medicine for justice.

Do you want to learn more about what happens when there is a failure to diagnose prostate cancer? You’re in the right place. Watch the video below to learn more about the importance of timely digital rectal examinations and prostate ultrasounds. Learn More Failure to Diagnose Cancer – Can You Sue? Failure to Diagnose Cancer – Can You Sue? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:40 Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer: Modern Testing 1:45 Prostate Cancer Treatment 2:51 Early Detection Is Key: Prostate Ultrasound and Digital Rectal Examinations Prostate cancer is actually the most common cancer in men. Many men as they age are at risk for prostate cancer. The instance is generally, about one in ten men during their lifetime will suffer from prostate cancer. Prostate cancer can be a very indolent, slow-growing cancer, or it can be more aggressive. 0:40 Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer: Modern Testing We fortunately now have nuclear studies and molecular studies that will let us know reasonably early if prostate cancer is present, whether it is an aggressive cancer or whether it’s more indolent, that is slow-growing. So the key with prostate cancer is, make the diagnosis more commonly than not now, that diagnosis is made on blood testing, the so-called PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen study. Although it can be still made on the old-fashioned digital rectal examination, a hard knot or very firm area, the prostate may be noted. What follows is a prostate ultrasound. It is usually a biopsy. The pathologist looks at that study and makes a diagnosis. The treating physician then has to be informed of that diagnosis, and then timely take action on getting the patient treated. 1:45 Prostate Cancer Treatment Now again, in the face of inlet disease or disease that’s less aggressive in an older man, the treatment may be no more than conservative follow-up. Could be medication, could be radiation therapy, while in younger men the treatment is more likely to be surgical by removing the prostate gland. So just like in any other cancer, an early pickup is more likely to lead to a complete cure. In the case of younger men, through surgical management, in the case of men as they get older, either through radiotherapy or through hormone therapy, or chemotherapy. Particularly, if the disease has spread, you’re looking at generally non-surgical treatment, and once a patient develops metastatic prostate cancer, their life expectancy is seldom more than two years, and that’s not two years of a high quality of life. It’s usually two years of pain, chronic pain medications, and very little positive to say because these are patients who typically are in a lot of pain. They hurt, they require chronic narcotics, sometimes minimally invasive pain therapies. 2:51 Early Detection Is Key: Prostate Ultrasound and Digital Rectal Examinations So again, like in so many cases, early detection is the key. Pick up the cancer, treat it, find out if it’s aggressive or non-aggressive, look at your patient, decide which niche he fits in, does he require aggressive treatment or less aggressive treatment, formulate a treatment plan, and then stick to the plan. Again, timely diagnosis is really key. Failure to diagnose cases is incredibly challenging. They are difficult to prove, and they are notoriously difficult to win. Many patients feel discouraged before they even speak to a law firm. To make matters worse, doctors often have a “circle the wagons” mentality toward their fellow physicians. They protect their own, sometimes even at the cost of a patient’s well-being. Proving that a doctor failed to diagnose a condition is a daunting undertaking, which is why you need an experienced, compassionate legal team on your side. LawMD is that team. Our trial lawyers have won failure to diagnose cases for patients across the country. We are based in Washington, D.C., and serve clients across the United States; We practice in some of the country’s biggest health care hubs. And, because many of our attorneys are also medical professionals, we have the knowledge and experience to effectively champion your case from start to finish.

“How do you prevent blood clots?” is a common concern for many people. Watch the video below to learn more about the failure to prevent blood clots and how to reduce the chance of blood clots. Learn More: Failure To Diagnose A Condition – The Most Common Types Of Negligence Failure to Diagnose Cancer – Can You Sue? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:41 Failure To Prevent Blood Clots: Hypercoagulable State 1:53 Pulmonary Emboli One of the common problems that occur that results in medical negligence is that some patients develop blood clots. Generally, the blood clots start out in the legs. Oftentimes, on patients who have been sitting in bed for prolonged periods of time. Often related to immobility because the muscles of the leg when we walk tend to compress the veins and help the blood return back to the heart. 0:41 Failure To Prevent Blood Clots and How To Reduce The Chance Of Blood Clots: Hypercoagulable State Another cause is what’s called a hypercoagulable state, and that’s just a big word for the blood is more prone to clot, and that occurs after surgical operations or trauma of any kind. It can be due to blood problems themselves. Certain blood cancers can cause it and cancer of any kind can cause increased coagulability, the tendency of blood to clot. All of those things make it paramount for the doctors to recognize that this patient is prone to forming blood clots and takes steps to prevent those blood clots from forming. What makes blood clots so dangerous in addition to the damage that they cause to the veins and the legs themselves is that those blood clots can break off from those veins and travel through the blood system to the heart and from the heart to the lungs. When those blood clots reach the lungs, they can block off the blood supply to the lungs and cause the death of lung tissue. 1:53 Pulmonary Emboli A prompt diagnosis of blood clots in the legs and particularly when they break off and go to the lungs That’s called pulmonary emboli is a medical emergency. It requires immediate attention, and usually requires anticoagulation with medications which prevent or limit the ability of the blood to clot. This is a common cause of death, postoperatively as well as after trying injuries such as automobile accidents. Every doctor in that circumstance has got to pay a lot of attention to this problem. Drugs can be used to prevent blood clots when people are immobile. Like with all diseases and all melodies, prevention is a lot easier and a lot better than treating the condition after it occurs. Because we have in-house medical know-how more than ten of our lawyers are also physicians, we can evaluate the medical questions in your case and provide answers without a lengthy wait. Our internal process involves getting the issues in your case quickly in front of the right physician-attorney who, based on his or her medical experience and training, is most likely to have the answers you seek about whether you have a case and how we might help you get the compensation you deserve to help secure a brighter future for you and for your loved ones. Medical malpractice claims can be wrought with incredible complexity, but chances are that there are few or none who can know the medical issues in your case like medical professionals. If you are seeking compensation in a medical malpractice claim, you should have experienced medical malpractice lawyers working for you on that case; You will also stand to benefit from medical professionals on your side. With LawMD, you get both. At LawMD, our attorneys are not just award-winning legal professionals; most of them are also medical doctors. Our team comprises medical professionals with specialties and capacity in emergency medicine, surgery, pediatrics, radiology, dentistry, and a number of other specialties and subspecialties. We also consist of highly respected trial lawyers, seasoned negotiators, and experienced litigators. It is this winning combination of legal and medical knowledge that earns our reputation among many as the legal team with “the right medicine for justice.”

Watch the video below to receive an overview of cancer misdiagnosis and how cancer testing and diagnosing cancer properly works. Learn More: Failure to Diagnose Cancer – Can You Sue? Cancer Misdiagnosis Video Transcript Hello everyone, Dr Bill Hinnant here, physician and attorney. I think our topic today is cancer misdiagnosis. First of all, it’s always unfortunate when you’re given a diagnosis of cancer, but fortunately in today’s world, the treatment of cancer is such that it’s progressed to where most patients, particularly with early detection, can do very well. But what about cancer misdiagnosis? What if you actually are diagnosed with cancer and don’t have cancer? Or what if you’re diagnosed with a certain type of cancer and it turns out to be an incorrect diagnosis either pathologically or anatomically? The ramifications of that type of misdiagnosis or lack of a diagnosis are significant. It’s important to diagnose cancer timely and we’re going to cover that issue in other talks that we plan here, that is a delayed diagnosis of cancer. But what about the misdiagnosis? There are several ways you can have a misdiagnosis. One, the particular pathology from whatever the organ may be may be diagnosed incorrectly by the physician looking at the tissue slide obtained when you undergo a biopsy. A second possibility would be that maybe you’re diagnosed with a common type of cancer like cancer of glandular cells, which is called adenocarcinoma, cancer of protective cells that generally cover either the skin or the serosive organs that are squamous cell or so squamous cell carcinomas. In the case of a diagnosis being made where the type of cancer pathologically is misdiagnosed, it’s critical that such an error not be made. The reason being that whether it’s surgery, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy, each of the treatment regimens that are most effective for those tumors are going to be specific to a given cell type. So if the type of cancer diagnosed is not correct, you may not get the correct treatment, and this may not be the fault of your treating physician. It may be the fault of the pathologist who simply called the wrong cancer. Your treating physician is expected to treat you. He’s not expected to make the diagnosis pathologically. So you have to rely on the pathologist who is trained to recognize tumors under the microscope and what they look like. More Information about Cancer Misdiagnosis According to the one study, cancer misdiagnosis could occur in up to 28 percent. Survey data shows that doctors underestimate the likelihood of misdiagnosis. Understanding the process of cancer diagnosis is crucial to fully understanding how cancer misdiagnosis occurs. Doctors and patients must understand that no single test can accurately diagnose cancer. Any stage of the cancer misdiagnosis procedure can lead to misdiagnosis. Human error, such as negligence or incompetence by doctors when determining the types of cancer testing required to diagnose cancer, may lead to misdiagnosis. Misdiagnosis of cancer can occur during the testing process. This could include errors in diagnosing imaging, improper collection of cell samples for biopsy, or poor procedure. Sometimes, doctors and specialists fail to recognize cancer correctly in some cases. Cancer Misdiagnosis Overview: Cancer Tests for Cancer misdiagnosis Misdiagnosis of cancer is often caused by human error or imperfections in the testing process. False positive and false negative results can lead to cancer misdiagnosis. False positive test results for cancer can indicate the presence of cancer, even though the patient is not suffering from it. False-negative results can indicate that a patient with cancer does not have it. Failing cancer screening results can lead to devastating consequences for patients. Cancer Misdiagnosis Overview: How Cancer Testing Works Different types of cancer testing work in different ways. This can impact how a patient’s diagnosis of cancer. Pathologists must analyze and interpret virtually all types of cancer testing. Pathologists are specialists who diagnose and study diseases like cancer. Even if cancer testing yields accurate results, mistakes or lack of knowledge can lead to misdiagnosis. Cancer Misdiagnosis Overview: The Subjective Method of Diagnosis Of Cancer Many cancer misdiagnoses is due to differences in expertise, knowledge, and opinions between pathologists when they examine cell samples or use diagnostic imaging results. Two different pathologists might come to opposing conclusions about whether the same sample has signs or patterns of cancer if they examine it. Sometimes, a patient with a non-cancerous condition is diagnosed and later, an analysis by a different pathologist shows that abnormal cells in the patient’s body are cancerous. Patients should seek second opinions from oncologists who specialize in that type of cancer. General diagnostic services might not be sufficient to diagnose a particular type of cancer. Pathologist experience can make a difference in the correct diagnosis and timely treatment of cancer. Common Cancer Testing Failures Some types of cancer testing are more likely to result in a misdiagnosis than others. A mammography (a type of X-ray used to diagnose breast cancer) can have a misdiagnosis rate of up to 20%. Some types of cancer testing, such as blood tumor markers, may prove effective in certain cases but not in others. It is often difficult to correctly classify and identify cancer because of its complex nature of it. Mammography for Breast Cancer Mammograms are a common method of screening for breast cancer. According to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, several risk factors can increase the likelihood of inaccurate mammogram results. High breast tissue density is one of the most prevalent risk factors. High breast density can make it difficult for mammography to detect potentially cancerous lesions. Breast density is mainly genetic. Due to higher breast density, older women are more likely to be misdiagnosed with mammographic cancer. Blood Test Tumor Markers Some types of blood tests for cancer can be used to detect tumor markers. Certain chemicals may be produced by cancerous tumors as tumor markers. Some tumor markers can be produced in the body naturally. However, elevated levels of specific tumor markers can indicate cancer. They may also be indicative of other conditions that are not necessarily cancerous. This can lead to the misdiagnosis of cancer. Tumor markers might not always be found in patients with cancer. It is possible that tumor markers may not be specific for a particular type of cancer. This could cause difficulty in diagnosing the disease.

Just the name itself tells you a lot about what happens in this active, hectic part of a hospital: Emergency Room. Patients arriving unexpectedly with medical conditions of varying degrees of seriousness; a lack of medical records or background information about those patients; prioritizing treatment of patients in an overcrowded or understaffed facility – all of these factors and more make hospital emergency rooms particularly vulnerable to medical errors. But just because hard-working doctors, nurses, and staff are providing treatment in a high-pressure environment does not mean that they shouldn’t have to follow the appropriate standards of care for proper emergency room treatment. When an ER patient is injured or passes away because of treatment which falls below that standard of care, it can form the basis of a medical malpractice claim. There are 136.1 million emergency room visits in the U.S. every year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the number of annual visits keeps rising. At the same time, the number of ER’s in the U.S. has declined. More patients in need of urgent care and fewer places for them to go with fewer doctors to treat them makes an already challenging situation even more so. That is just one reason that ER treatment is the basis of more medical malpractice claims than treatment in almost any other hospital department. Some of the most common ER errors that lead to malpractice claims include: Medication errors Misjudgment of symptoms Misdiagnosis Failure to properly triage (prioritize patients for treatment based on the seriousness of their condition) Delayed diagnosis Improper diagnosis by medical staff other than a doctor Unordered or incorrectly interpreted tests Understaffing Poor communications Failure to monitor patient symptoms Infection caused by improper cleaning, maintenance, or use of Instruments or equipment The very nature of an emergency means that patients often have little choice as to what hospital they will go to for treatment. Either paramedics or first-responders will make that choice, or the urgency of the situation means that the closest ER is the only choice. But knowing where ERs are in your area and what their reputations are before an emergency arises can allow you to have more options when you need them. You can ask your physician about his or her opinion of local emergency rooms and can research a hospital’s reputation online. Contact a Washington DC Emergency Room Errors Attorneys Today When the doctors, nurses, and staff in a hospital emergency room fail to meet the appropriate standard of care and a patient suffers adverse health consequences or dies as a result, the Washington, D.C. emergency room error attorneys at LawMD can help. Our lawyers, a number of whom are also licensed physicians, are committed to the well-being of our clients and fight tirelessly to get them the highest amount of compensation possible. Representing Victims & Their Families across the United States If you have been injured or lost a loved one as a result of a suspected emergency room error, please give us a call at (833) 695-2963 to set up your free consultation or contact us online. We look forward to assisting you.

As a patient, when you go to the doctor, you expect to be treated with quality care. You provide a list of your symptoms to the doctor and expect the professional to be able to find out what is wrong with you. In many instances, it can take several days of testing to determine the actual cause of pain or sickness. It is not uncommon for a patient to be misdiagnosed. When this happens, if additional treatment is not sought, the patient can end up with further damage to the body. What is Misdiagnosis? A misdiagnosis is when a patient is told that a certain sickness or injury has occurred when actually something else has taken place. It can be easy to be misdiagnosed but in some cases, this can be life-threatening or damaging. For example, if you have the flu but the doctor thinks it is just a cold, you will not receive the treatment you require. This can lead to further sickness within your family as well as damage to your body. Without proper treatment, you could end up in the hospital in worse condition. Let’s take an arm injury as an example of misdiagnosis and how it can affect the future. The patient has injured his arm with broken glass. The patient was treated for his injuries. Later on, the patient realizes their arm has not healed properly and is quite painful. After seeking help from a doctor, the patient finds out that the glass injury actually cut a tendon and surgery was needed at the time, but this was not provided. The original diagnosis was not as thorough as it needed to be and the patient now has a worse injury than before. Also Read: Misdiagnosed: Stay Engaged and Follow Up Understanding Improper Treatment As a doctor provides treatment or a diagnosis that is not proper to the injury or sickness, this can be considered negligent. Negligence is considered anything that causes injury to the patient, failure to do anything that should have been done or the condition of the patient is worse than before. Doctors are expected to provide a high standard of care and diagnosis and treat patients properly. Failure to Diagnose Let’s consider the patient with the arm injury. The doctor in this situation was negligent because the arm injury was not fully diagnosed. A thorough examination of the arm was not conducted or the injured tendon would have been clearly seen. The superficial wounds were the only area treated and the tendon problem was not resolved. As a result of the less than thorough care, the injury of the tendon became much worse. All the while, the individual suffered from pain as well as had difficulty in using his arm. If the tendon had been treated immediately the issue may have been repaired without the need for surgery. This of course would be based on the injury. However, because the injury was becoming worse over time, the option for surgery is now needed. The surgery would take place months after the accident happened instead of the problem being resolved the first time. Permanent damage may have been caused due to the negligence of the doctor. Legal Action In this scenario, legal action can be taken due to the doctor’s negligence. The doctor will need to be held accountable for the misdiagnosis as well as pain and discomfort the individual has faced in the months after the initial treatment. Many individuals in medical malpractice cases will seek damages for medical and other expenses as well as pain and suffering. Get Help with Your Medical Malpractice Case Today To be able to learn more about medical malpractice cases and see if you have the right to file a claim, contact us! Take advantage of a free consultation to review your personal situation and receive the help you need.

Any individual who has been harmed by a health care professional’s negligence or sub-par care may have a case for compensation. Known as medical malpractice, issues such as surgery errors or misdiagnosis can be handled by a medical malpractice attorney. But how you do you find the best attorney for your individual case? Medical malpractice lawsuits are complex and require medical as well as legal knowledge. You have to work with someone who can prove that a professional in the health care field provided less than standard care. In many states, there are procedures that have to be followed in order to even file a claim, which most patients aren’t even aware of. By working with an experienced attorney, you can be sure every step is taken to have your case heard. Where to Begin An attorney who specializes in medical malpractice law is considered an individual who works in a specialized field. This is due to the overlap of legal and medical issues, plus the procedural side of things. Lawyers who practice in this field will have represented injured patients in the past who have sued health care providers or have defended health care providers who have faced a medical malpractice lawsuit. You will want to hire a plaintiff’s lawyer to ensure your best interests are covered. You can begin by asking for personal recommendations from family and friends. Get in touch with local lawyers to see if they know anyone to recommend that specializes in medical malpractice law. It may take some time to find anyone locally or in nearby towns to assist you with your case. Search online as well to see what lawyers are available in your area. Websites of attorneys will list their specialties including medical malpractice. Narrow Down Your Choices After you have made a list of lawyers to contact, you want to narrow down your choices. Use the internet to look at bios of each attorney. Which attorneys specialize in medical malpractice? Are there legal blog posts that explain past cases or information on the subject of medical malpractice? Mark those who provide you with the most information as well as who seem to specialize in this given field as those you wish to contact. Look at the attorney website to see if they are members of any association such as the trial lawyers association in your state. See if the attorney plays a vital role in the organization or within community groups. Also, check for reviews. You want to see honest reviews by real people who the attorney has helped. This can help you to determine if you wish to contact certain individuals. You can also contact the state bar association to see if the attorney is in good standing. Making Contact Once you have your list set, you are ready to make contact with each attorney. You can contact the attorney about your negligence case by using the telephone, email or the attorney’s website. Find out if the attorney focuses on medical malpractice and how many cases go to trial versus settling. Ask about payment and fees. You want to know what to expect by way of charges and if you will be able to afford the assistance. Ask about a free consultation. Most attorneys will provide this for you so they can see if you have a case and you can decide if you feel comfortable working with the individual. Set up consultations with several attorneys to ensure you find the right person for your legal needs. Get Help with Your Medical Malpractice Case Today Visit www.lawmd.com for essential information on medical malpractice needs with options for a free consultation with a highly qualified team of lawyers. LawMD can assist you with all your legal needs.

“Why do doctors ignore symptoms?” this is a common concern for many people. Watch our video below to find out the answer and learn more about the pertinence of information when gathering data for cases like retroperitoneal sarcoma. Learn More: What Happens To Doctors Guilty Of Malpractice? Can You Sue a Doctor for Failure to Diagnose? What Can Doctors Do To Prevent Medical Malpractice? Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:46 Why Do Doctors Ignore Symptoms? Pertinence Of Information 2:01 Retroperitoneal Sarcoma (RPS) When I was a medical resident, now many years ago, I had a professor who used to say, ‘Bill, when all else fails, listen to the patient’, 0:46 Why Do Doctors Ignore Symptoms? Pertinence Of Information I’ve always found that to be good advice. Sometimes doctors will focus on a snippet, and for lack of a better term, miss the forest full of trees. Also, patients tell the physician a significant amount of information, some of which may be pertinent and some of which may not. The doctor needs to identify the pertinent information and focus on that and expand his or her line of questioning in taking a history to look at what’s pertinent. Why do they sometimes deny or fail to consider what the patient says? Sometimes it’s time-related, maybe they’re rushed, they have other people waiting. But the long and short of it is if you have a patient who gives you a history and maybe a workup is ordered, maybe it includes lab work, x-rays, other studies of some kind. Let’s just say all of that comes back completely normal. The patient comes back in, the physician reviews this with the patient and the patient looks the physician in the eye and says, ‘doctor, I just know something’s wrong’. That’s something to listen to. 2:01 Retroperitoneal Sarcoma (RPS) I had a gentleman who had the exact same scenario, vague vague symptoms. I did the workup that you normally would do. Nothing really showed up. He gave me that history. He said, ‘you know, something’s wrong and I know it. I went back, did a CT scan of his abdomen and pelvis, found he had a retroperitoneal sarcoma, a very aggressive cancer that was actually outside of his abdominal cavity back in the area the kidneys, the ureters, and the aorta. But we picked it up on the CT. We were able to pick it up fairly quickly. He was able to be seen by an oncologist, received chemotherapy, and now he’s alive in his very late 80s and still leading a fruitful life. Again, remember that paradigm, when all else fails, listen to the patient.

Learn More What are “Damages” in Medical Malpractice? HOW MUCH DOES A DOCTOR’S WORKING ENVIRONMENT CONTRIBUTE TO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE? Video Transcript TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:40 Identifying Damages – Medical Expenses 0:56 Identifying Damages – Lost Income 1:17 Identifying Damages – Disability 2:31 Identifying Damages – Wrongful Death 3:08 Identifying Damages – Calculate those damages There was a question that I was asked about failure to diagnose lawsuits, and the settlements in those particular cases. 0:40 Identifying Damages – Medical Expense Again, you have to know a little bit again about one, identifying damages. And those damages generally are going to be broken down into medical expenses that may not have been necessary, had a diagnosis been made correctly initially. 0:56 Identifying Damages – Lost Income There may be additional lost income. And by that, I mean generally wages. Money that the individual patient/plaintiff may have earned, that he or she been able to return to work and perform his or her occupation. That is paychecks that they would have received if they didn’t receive as a result of the diagnosis. 1:17 Identifying Damages – Disability And then finally, disability, permanency. If someone is unable to perform certain duties in the way that they did before the act of negligence occurred, maybe they’re unable to do the job that they previously did. Maybe they have to resort to a less profitable job. Maybe they’re not able to work at all. Those lost wages in any permanency that occurs as a result of the negligence is also compensatable. Clearly, if they’re unable to work, you can look at the income they would have made, say to their retirement age, to calculate their damages. And those damages can then be used towards structuring what would be a fair settlement. Likewise, if they miss a portion of work, you can look at that finite period of time to determine what wages they may have lost. 2:31 Identifying Damages – Wrongful Death And then of course in terms of permanency, death is always permanent, needless to say. The value of the services that individual could have performed by way of employment. And also the value of the services that individual could have done or could have been responsible for his or her estates’ beneficiaries, children, grandchildren. That is worth something under most states’ wrongful death actions. Also, the expenses associated with probate administration, with funeral expenses. All of these are potentially compensable 3:08 Identifying Damages – Calculate those damages So you take this panoply of damages and medical expenses, lost wages, any element of permanency, funeral expenses in the case of a death, probate administration expenses in the case of a death. And you roll this all together and do the math. That’s how you determine what a fair settlement could be. And I have to add one caveat. You have to factor in the contingency of potentially not being able to convince the jury that the facts, or as you see them, and that actual negligence occurred. All these factor in as to what a fair settlement may be. And of course, in the end, it’s usually an insurance company that decides what would be paid. That value and the case of dealing with an experienced attorney needs to be looked at carefully by that attorney, and a decision made as to whether to accept that settlement offer, or whether to perhaps consider taking the case to trial.

Medical malpractice cases are complex and require representation by a skilled attorney who understands what it takes to prove the elements of your case. Your attorney must be familiar with the right experts, and most importantly must be able to place a value on the damages that you suffered. This is not a task for the inexperienced. If you are the victim of medical malpractice, focus on finding the best malpractice attorney in Maryland to represent you. This puts you in the best position to recover the maximum fair compensation for your injuries. Seek out our aggressive and dedicated firm of Maryland malpractice attorneys as soon after your injury as possible since you only have a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit. Elements of medical malpractice Medical professionals are held to a professional standard of care. When a surgeon or other medical professional such as a nurse or member of a surgical team acts in a way that causes an injury or fails to act, and that action or omission causes harm to a patient, medical malpractice may have occurred. A mistake or error by a medical professional that damages or harms a patient can occur at any time during treatment. It can be a lack of informed consent or improper dosing of medication. It can be a botched hip operation, or a failure to check in on a patient post-surgery. And it can be an injury to a child that occurs during a difficult birth. When a professional does not adhere to the proper standard of care, and that failure results in an injury, you may have a medical malpractice claim. For a medical malpractice claim, you must have been harmed by the action or inaction. Experts are called upon in many medical malpractice cases to show not only the standard of care that applies in a case, but also that a physician failed to live up to the standard of care, and that these actions are what caused the injury. In addition, experts are called upon to show the value of damages such as lost earnings and cost of future care. Contact us to speak to one of our experienced malpractice attorneys in Maryland today If you are a malpractice victim and need experienced legal representation in Maryland, contact us online, or call (833) 695-2963 for a free initial consultation. We also serve clients in the District of Columbia and Virginia.

Failure to detect mental illness can be a huge problem for many people. Watch our video below to learn more about self-harm malpractice cases from our medical malpractice lawyers and doctors. Learn More: What is Failure to Diagnose? Failure To Treat Failure to Diagnose Video Transcript Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:39 Failure to Detect Mental Illness: Mental Health Assessment 1:14 Failure To Diagnose Mental illness is a little bit different than physical illness and the masters of that domain are the psychologist and the psychiatrist. I think I’d feel safe saying that they would tell you that it sometimes takes more than one visit to really delineate what’s going on with a patient that has a mental illness. 0:39 Failure to Detect Mental Illness: Mental Health Assessment The key is that you really have to be cautious in the realm of ill mental illness.  First is that the patient doesn’t hurt someone else, and two, that the patient doesn’t hurt themselves. You have to realize there’s a significant liability if a patient is being seen about a mental illness, maybe there’s some delay or maybe there’s controversy as to what that patient is suffering from, and then they’ll go out and commit some heinous act. 1:14 Failure To Diagnose If you are a victim of those types of crimes, then you may have a cause of action against a health care provider. The key is that the mental health professional must make the correct diagnosis, must do it timely, guard against the patient hurting themselves or a third party, and then follow the results of the treatment to assure that they continue to do well and they would not be better served by a change in medication. If your family has been affected by a mental illness, you deserve more than just answers—you deserve full and fair compensation. The dedicated Physician Attorneys at LawMD are nationally recognized for their work. We help families across the United States; let us help yours. If you or your loved one has been permanently or seriously injured due to medical negligence in a mentally ill patient, contact the Medical-Legal team at LawMD. More than 10 of our medical malpractice lawyers are also physicians. For serious injuries and self-harm malpractice cases, LawMD is the right medicine for justice.