Misdiagnosis

[jameyb66]

Brought my 3-day old son into the ER with labored breathing. Chest x-rays were taken. The radiologist at the ER diagnosed my son with pneumonia. Due to his age, they decided to transfer him to another hospital. At the second hospital, radiologist #2 looked at the x-rays and determined that my son was negative for pneumonia. The cause for the labored breathing was dried mucus(winter low humidity) and quickly resolved with saline solution and a vacuum. Since antibiotics were started at the first ER, my son was kept for two days to administer the full dosage.
Now, due to the misdiagnosis, I am stuck with a $2,000 bill. I got all the medical records of his entire stay. Do I have a case?

Twin Cities, MN

[cbg]

Not under insurance law, you don't. If you want to know if you have a case for medical malpractice, you should be posting under that forum instead of this one.

[jameyb66]

So under Insurance Law it is OK to make mistakes and misdiagnose patients?

[IsabellaSoriano]

Originally Posted by jameyb66

So under Insurance Law it is OK to make mistakes and misdiagnose patients?

technically, the insurance has nothing to do with it. the only thing would be an accounting error. which isn't the case here.

you are getting billed for treatment that child DID receive.

[cbg]

Agreed, this has nothing to do with insurance. Insurance law is not concerned with anything but what the contract says will be paid for. It is not concerned with whether or not something was misdiagnosed.

[jameyb66]

Originally Posted by IsabellaSoriano

technically, the insurance has nothing to do with it. the only thing would be an accounting error. which isn't the case here.

you are getting billed for treatment that child DID receive.

Technically, if the radiologist had not made a mistake, my son would have not gotten unnecessary antibiotics, unnecessary ambulance transportation, unnecessary bedside doctor visits, and an unnecessary hospital stay. The first ER was capable of performing suction to relief my son of dried mucus in his airways. There is no doubt that my son got certain services. But due to a misdiagnosis, many unnecessary services were rendered. You really haven't answered my question. Are mistakes allowed under insurance law?

[jameyb66]

Originally Posted by cbg

Agreed, this has nothing to do with insurance. Insurance law is not concerned with anything but what the contract says will be paid for. It is not concerned with whether or not something was misdiagnosed.

What would be he best way for me to take care of this? Small claims, law suit??? I just want to get this resolved. What would both of u do?

[cbg]

You are still missing the point.

Insurance law is not concerned with whether there was a mistake or not. So if you insist on a yes or no answer, yes, mistakes are allowed under insurance law. And all other laws, too; medicine is not an exact science. But insurance law is based on contracts, not on whether there was a mistake or not. So you are in the wrong forum if you are hoping for a lawsuit.

[cbg]

I didn't see your last post before I posted.

The ONLY way for you to resolve this within the legal system is to have a medical malpractice expert review your son's files and determine whether or not this was outside the accepted standard of care. Without that determination, you will not get any kind of resolution in the courts.

[jameyb66]

Not hoping for anything here.... Just the facts. Thank God my son is healthy and did not suffer any injuries from that visit. Doesn't that exclude him from a malpractice lawsuit?

[cbg]

Probably. But the problem is that as I said, medicine is not an exact science and it is not always possible to get a correct diagnosis the first time. Before the legal system is going to absolve you from responsibility for that $2,000 bill, you are going to have to show that it never should have been incurred in the first place, and an initial misdiagnosis is not sufficient to prove that under the law. it is simply not possible to always get it right the first time. Unless you have an expert opinion that the first diagnosis was negligent, you're going to be held responsible for paying the bill.