When a Missed Diagnosis Changes Everything
Many serious conditions can be treated if they are caught in time. When a doctor misses the signs of cancer, a stroke, a heart attack, or a serious infection, or when a diagnosis is delayed for weeks or months, a treatable condition can become life-threatening.
The Injury Advocates represents patients and families across Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties who were harmed by a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis. Misdiagnosis is one of the medical malpractice cases we handle, and every case is reviewed with qualified medical experts.
What a Misdiagnosis Case Requires in Florida
Under section 766.102, Florida Statutes, a patient must show that the provider failed to meet the prevailing professional standard of care. In a misdiagnosis case, that usually means showing that a reasonably careful provider in the same situation would have recognized the condition, ordered the right test, or followed up on a result.
The patient must also show that the delay caused real harm. For example, a cancer may have spread to a later stage, or a stroke may have been past the window for treatment. Florida law also says that a provider’s good-faith decision not to order additional tests is not negligence on its own if the decision met the standard of care. These are questions that require a medical expert’s opinion, which is why expert review is the first step.
Common Misdiagnosis Cases
Deadlines and Next Steps
Florida’s deadline for medical malpractice claims is generally two years from when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered, and in most cases no more than four years from the date of the mistake. Before any lawsuit can be filed, Florida requires an expert review and a 90-day presuit investigation period, so it is important to start early.
Learn more about how these cases work on our medical malpractice page, or call us for a free review of your situation.
Related Medical Malpractice Pages
Hospitals and their insurers defend malpractice claims aggressively. We work with qualified medical experts to find out what went wrong, document the full impact on your life, and build a case designed to hold the right parties accountable. If you cannot come to us, we can meet by phone, by video, or at your home or hospital.
Why Patients and Families Choose The Injury Advocates
No. Doctors are not required to be perfect, and some conditions are genuinely hard to diagnose. A misdiagnosis becomes malpractice when the provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care and the delay or error caused a serious injury or death.
Possibly. The key questions are whether the signs should have been recognized earlier and whether earlier treatment would likely have changed the outcome. We review your records with qualified medical experts to answer those questions honestly.
Nothing up front. Your consultation is free, and we handle injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means our fee is a percentage of the money we recover for you. If we do not win your case, you owe no attorney’s fees and no case costs.
