Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis Attorney on Florida’s Treasure Coast

Diagnosis errors are among the most common reasons patients are seriously harmed by medical care. A cancer that is found a year too late, a stroke sent home as a migraine, or a heart attack dismissed as indigestion can change the course of a life. When the delay happened because a provider did not do what a reasonably careful provider would have done, the patient or family may have a medical malpractice claim.

Before she became a lawyer, Phyllis Gillespie worked as a critical care nurse in cardiac and intensive care units. She has seen how a diagnosis is supposed to be made, and she knows where in the chart to look when it was not.

Conditions Commonly Missed or Diagnosed Late

• Cancer: including breast, colon, lung, skin, and cervical cancer, especially when abnormal imaging or lab results were not followed up.
• Heart attack and aortic dissection in patients who arrived at the emergency room with chest, back, or jaw pain.
• Stroke mistaken for vertigo, migraine, or intoxication, when time-sensitive treatment could have helped.
• Sepsis and serious infections where abnormal vital signs or lab values were not acted on.
• Pulmonary embolism and blood clots after surgery or long hospital stays.
• Appendicitis, bowel obstruction, and meningitis.

How Diagnosis Errors Happen

A diagnosis error does not always mean a doctor guessed wrong. Common causes include:

• Failing to consider serious conditions that match the patient’s symptoms.
• Not ordering the tests or imaging the symptoms called for.
• Misreading an X-ray, CT scan, mammogram, biopsy, or lab result.
• Abnormal results that were never communicated to the patient or the ordering physician.
• Nurses’ concerns or abnormal vital signs that were documented but not acted on.
• Discharging a patient from the emergency room without adequate follow-up instructions.

What Must Be Proven

Not every missed diagnosis is malpractice. Under Florida law, the claim must show that the provider failed to meet the prevailing professional standard of care and that the delay caused harm, such as a cancer that progressed to a later stage or a stroke that caused permanent damage. These cases require review by qualified medical experts, and Florida requires a written expert opinion before a lawsuit can even be filed.

Why the Timing of Discovery Matters

Florida’s two-year medical malpractice deadline generally begins when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered, not always on the date of the missed diagnosis. There is also an outer limit of four years from the incident in most cases. Because diagnosis cases often come to light months or years later, it is important to talk with an attorney as soon as you learn that something was missed.

Get Answers About a Missed Diagnosis

If you or a family member were harmed by a missed or delayed diagnosis, call 772-238-6388 or send a message below for a free, confidential consultation. Medical malpractice cases are handled on a contingency fee basis: you owe no attorney’s fees unless there is a recovery, and if there is no recovery, you owe no fees and no case costs. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.