The recent news around Jesy Nelson, whose twin daughters have been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, has raised important questions about the diagnosis of complicated or rare medical conditions, particularly in young children. There can be nothing more frustrating, disheartening and confusing for a parent than knowing that something does not feel right, yet struggling to have those concerns recognised or identified by medical professionals.
Whether you are facing an SMA diagnosis, as in Jesy Nelson’s case, or a different but equally serious medical condition, this increased awareness raises two important questions: how do you know when a diagnosis could or should have been made earlier? And if your child has faced a delayed diagnosis, what impact has this had and should you be asking a medical negligence solicitor to look into it into a claim to help meet their needs or fund further treatment?
Part 1 of this article will provide some information to answer the first of those questions with Part 2 looking at question 2.
The first element to consider is the standard of care that should have been provided by the medical professional involved. A General Practitioner would not usually be expected to diagnose a complex or rare condition, but they may be expected to recognise that something is wrong and to make an appropriate referral to a consultant or specialist. Once a patient is seen by a consultant, the level of specialist knowledge and care expected is higher within that specific field.
Another key issue is whether the correct differential diagnosis is being considered. When a patient presents with a set of symptoms, those symptoms rarely point to only one condition. There are usually a few options that it could be (known as a differential diagnosis). Delayed diagnoses often occur when clinicians focus on one working diagnosis and overlook other possibilities, particularly when standard treatment is not producing the expected improvement.
If you establish that somewhere along the way, your child received care which fell below that standard, then the next step is to look at how that has impacted your child’s health, prognosis and long term outcome. For a claim to successfully recover compensation, it has to be established that if your child had received the correct care or treatment at the earliest point they should have done, they would now be facing a better outcome. This can be a particularly complicated question to answer and will need medical expert input, obtained via an experienced medical negligence legal team.
That takes us onto question 2, which we will look at in Part 2.
If you have been affected by a delayed diagnosis and would like to discuss a potential claim, please reach out to our team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and we will be in touch.