According to estimates from a medical malpractice insurer, between 10 and 20 percent of patients do not receive an accurate diagnosis during doctor visits. When people in Florida seek medical care, medical errors are the most likely to occur during the diagnostic phase. The insurer studied over 10,000 medical professional liability claims over a five-year period and concluded that diagnostic errors were the root cause of 33 percent of them.
The study blamed poor clinical decisions for 53 percent of malpractice claims. Over one-third of these mistakes took place in outpatient settings. Medical tests represented another major source of liability claims because tests were involved in half of these claims. Testing problems emerged when doctors failed to order tests or made mistakes when performing tests. Misinterpretation of test results accounted for some misdiagnoses. Errors also arose during the receipt and transmission of test samples and results.