Misdiagnosis
Your Legal Rights And Medical Misdiagnosis
As a patient of the public or private health care system in South Africa, you have certain rights. These rights are set out in the National Patients Charter, part of the National Health Act No 61 of 2003, which was formulated in alignment with the Constitution of South Africa. Each and every health care professional is required to be registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), a statutory body established in terms of the Health Professions Act No. 56 and, as such, each medical professional is obliged to practice within the parameters of a given code of conduct and ethics. Therefore, should you have been a victim of medical misdiagnosis, you should investigate all legal avenues open to you to claim recourse.
Medical misdiagnosis can have serious consequences. Not only are you given the incorrect advice and information as to your actual condition, but the medicines and treatments prescribed for you will be incorrect. These medicines or treatments may actually land up exacerbating your actual condition, without the knowledge of your doctor or yourself. Should it be discovered down the line that your diagnosis was incorrect, you will then have to undertake further time, energy and cost to obtain the correct diagnosis, medication and other treatments.
In this way, a seemingly innocuous case of medical misdiagnosis can snowball into a series of complications and vexations, with you being caught in the middle and unsure of your options. The fact is, your medical doctor or health care professional has a duty of care to diagnosis and treat you correctly and, even if the mistake was unintentional, you should be fairly compensated for the amount of time, energy and money you have wasted whilst being treated for the wrong condition. The damages you can claim include physical, emotional and financial and they extend to past, present and future costs incurred as a result of your misdiagnosis.
If you have been a victim of such a medical misdiagnosis, contact Adele van der Walt Attorneys Inc for supportive, empathetic advice and assistance to ascertain whether or not you have a plausible case of medical negligence.
For more information on this subject, please give us a call at 012 460 3668 (SA) or e-mail us at clare@avdw.co.za
