Did your doctor take sufficient steps to avoid a misdiagnosis?

When you see a doctor, you rely on them to make the proper diagnosis. If they do not understand what is wrong with you, their chances of providing the correct treatment are slim.

No one can know everything about the human body and the illnesses or diseases that can affect it. Therefore doctors need to look for outside help to ensure they make the correct diagnosis.

Who can doctors turn to reduce the chance of a medical misdiagnosis?

Here are three sets of people that medical providers can turn to if they need help to ensure their diagnosis is correct:

1. The patient and their family: If you decide to go and see a doctor, chances are you have some idea what is wrong with you, or at the very least can tell them what symptoms you have. Yet, because doctors can be in a rush, they sometimes do not take sufficient time to ask you everything they could.
2. Their colleagues: Few doctors work alone. In a hospital, they are surrounded by others, many of who are better qualified or have more expertise in a particular area. A doctor needs to be humble enough to ask, even if they feel it makes them look stupid.
3. The broader medical world: There might not be anyone on hand with the knowledge needed. Yet there will be somewhere, whether a local specialist who they can refer you to or a specialist in another country they can consult via a video call.

Studies show that doctors frequently misdiagnose patients. They do it to around 12 million people in the country every year. If you suffer due to a medical misdiagnosis, it is crucial to investigate if the medic did everything to ensure they made the correct diagnosis.