Medical Malpractice-Missed diagnoses common in the doctor’s office

From Reuters: “Missed or wrong diagnoses are common in primary care and may put some patients at risk of serious complications, according to a U.S. study.” The study appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine. David Newman-Toker from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who co-wrote a commentary on the study was quoted as follows in the article;

“We have every reason to believe that diagnostic errors are a major, major public health problem,” Newman-Toker told Reuters Health. “You’re really talking about at least 150,000 people per year, deaths or disabilities that are resulting from this problem.”

The article goes on to state that, “Most of the missed diagnoses were traced back to the office visit and the doctor not getting an accurate patient history, doing a full exam or ordering the correct tests.”

Dr.Hardeep Singh led the study at the Houston VA Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence. To read the full article click here. To read an abstract of the Study “Types and Origins of Diagnostic Errors in Primary Care Settings” clck here.