Before patients with medical issues can receive appropriate care, they first need a diagnosis. Medical professionals can order testing and converse with patients to diagnose the medical condition causing their symptoms. Once they know the underlying cause of the symptoms, they can recommend the best course of treatment.
The gold standard for diagnosis is an affirmative diagnosis. Doctors perform a bacterial culture or a blood test to affirm the presence of certain pathogens or cancer cells. They use imaging technology to identify brain injuries or affirm that a bone is broken. If there are no tests that can provide an affirmative diagnosis, then doctors may reach a diagnosis of exclusion. They rule out certain medical conditions in an attempt to determine what remains.
Unfortunately, diagnostic errors are relatively common. Some doctors fail to diagnose a patient’s condition entirely. Others might reach the wrong diagnostic conclusion. According to a statistical review of diagnostic errors, certain people are at greater risk than others.
Implicit bias affects medical care
Everyone has a degree of internal bias toward other people. Media messaging, stereotypes and prior personal experience can all influence how individuals treat other people with certain characteristics. Research into diagnostic errors shows that two groups of people tend to face more risk of diagnostic mistakes.
Women often have to deal with doctors ignoring or questioning their self-reported symptoms. Internal bias can also affect how doctors interact with people of different races. White males tend to receive the best diagnostic outcomes. Women and people of other racial groups experience an increased rate of diagnostic errors.
Some research indicates that people may be as much as 30% more likely to experience diagnostic errors because of their sex or race. When doctors don’t follow best practices, their patients may have poor outcomes. Failing to diagnose a patient due to characteristics that are outside of their control is a violation of the duty owed to patients seeking medical care.
Patients who do not receive an appropriate diagnosis and grieving families who have lost a loved one may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Recognizing that some people are at elevated risk might inspire patients or their families to speak up about a recent diagnostic mistake.