Every year thousands of people are injured and many others lose their life due to the negligence of health care professionals.

Medical mistakes such as surgical errors, wrong site surgeries, leaving behind foreign objects after surgery, medication errors, prescription errors, and misdiagnosis are more than common. The failure of doctors to order the right diagnostic tests at the right time is a major reason behind medical errors, especially ones involving misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose.

The Practice of Ordering Unnecessary Tests

A recent study has shown that in order to save themselves from medical malpractice lawsuits, physicians are ordering medical tests that may not be necessary. Many of these tests may even cause harm to a patient in some cases. The study shows that as many as 97 percent of emergency room doctors surveyed reported that they ordered tests such as advanced imaging scans that are unnecessary. The only reason they order the imaging scans is because they are afraid that they may fail to diagnose a condition that the patient may have.

Injuries Resulting From Unnecessary Tests

In some cases, these tests may yield a false positive, for example, the result shows that the patient has a medical condition or disease that he or she may not actually have. Based on these false tests results, the patient may have to undergo unnecessary and harmful biopsies and treatments for a medical condition that is not even present. It is also possible that the unnecessary test may reveal a condition that is not showing any symptoms and the physician may administer a treatment even though the treatment could have a worse outcome for the patient than the undetected condition.

In order to protect themselves of the risk of medical malpractice, a physician may order a diagnostic test and call this practice defensive medicine. By doing so they protect themselves from a medical malpractice suit on the pretext that they acted in accordance with generally accepted guidelines and would not be liable in case of misdiagnosis.

St. Louis Medical Malpractice Attorney

If a doctor fails to provide accurate or complete information and the patient has to undergo unnecessary treatment and suffers an injury as a result, the patient may be entitled to compensation for all the losses arising out of the doctor’s negligence. If you have undergone unnecessary treatment and suffered an injury as a result, contact a St. Louis medical malpractice attorney from Zevan and Davidson Law Firm. We will protect your legal rights and help you receive the compensation that you deserve.