Legal compensation for misdiagnosis?

Hi everyone,

So I was recently diagnosed with acute bartonella along with yersinia e. (galaxy and quest, IGG, IGM, IGA +) Numerous people in my immediate community around me have been asking how come it took so long (8 months) to arrive at a definitive diagnosis. I told them partly because my PCP and initial ID doctor in the beginning would refuse to run routine testing on me other than CBC and CMP. Both of them just thought I had a bad case of influenza and that I just had to wait it out...and kept telling me that visit after visit for 2-3 months and my symptoms just gradually got worse. In fact, after 2 months, my PCP just prescribed me sertraline (antidepressant) just thinking I was anxious and depressed and there was no other cause to my illness... As my symptoms started getting sharply worse in April, I demanded my ID doctor to run tests for me including lyme which multiple people around me told me to get done but he refused and referred me back to my PCP to check for anxiety symptoms again and refused to work with me further.

So...I know many of you have similar initial experiences and probably have cost you guys not only emotionally and physically but monetarily. Have any of you filed for compensation legally for this case if you receive a definitive diagnosis later with positive lab results?? I'm not sure what to do as my gf and some of her parents are looking to take legal action but not sure if we have a viable case to file for some compensation...

If anyone has any experience with this route, please let me know!

Thanks

I got bart in childhood and lost most of my life to the infection, even if I could punish the doctors who missed the symptoms, it wouldn't change the system. You can do more to help the next person by going to the public and the media to raise awareness - you could look for a Lyme advocacy group in your area. You are lucky you knew to ask about Lyme, and weren't dumped in the mental health system, for that you have advocates to thank.

Yep, 1st time I was tested for Lyme was 2010(diagnosed 4years later), but the Dr. Ignored the 'indeterminate' responses, and ignored the suggestion to retest after a course of antibiotics.

My MD only agreed to that test in 2010 after my insistence; but she, the MD insisted For FOUR years that I did not have Lyme disease. These are her exact words, "Just because your sister has Lyme doesnt mean you do", and "Lyme patients think everything is Lyme, & they think everyone has lyme". She also said, "You need to stop reading about diseases online, and take these antidepressants".

This is the VERY same Dr. That misdigosed my gall bladder disease as food intolerence. For MANY years i complained of stomach pain that wasnt resolved w/pepcid Ac or Prilosec, or ANY antacids, so she would berate me for straying from gluten-free & dairy-free. She'd say, "I can tell youre not sticking to your diet".

She knew my thyroid was low which could be the vause of my weight gain and other symtpoms, but NO, she got it stick in herhead that changing my diet would cure me of EVERYTHING...And thats an MD!

If anyone should sue a Dr....thatd be ME! But what comes around, goes around... between 2015-2017 she lost 70%of her patients due to horrible bedside manner.

I feel that there is not enough accountability? how will this ever get better unless there are countless cases in litigation, shouldn't the doctors, CDC, etc be held accountable. awareness, prevention, advocacy only goes so far.

but i agree its likely an uphill battle.

"Medical malpractice is the breach of the duty of care by a medical provider or medical facility. ... On the other hand, medical negligence does not involve intent. Medical negligence applies when a medical provider makes a “mistake” in treating patient and that mistake results in harm to the patient."

"Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional deviates from standards in his or her profession, thereby causing injury to a patient"

Imo this is not a winnable fight. The advocacy groups are working hard to get us better testing and get the word out that Lyme and co's are everywhere. There is still so much denial in the regular medical world that Lyme is as big of a problem as it truly is. It often takes much longer than 8 months for people to get positive tests even when they are seeing qualified LLMD's.

There are some older cases in Massachusetts that were won, you would have to research online.

also a private school in Salisbury Ct had to pay out many millions due to a student getting Lyme on a trip the school took and the student is now disabled due to Lyme.

Healing98 said...
These types of lawsuits are the reason why doctors refuse to go against the guidelines of the CDC. Each time they do, such as LLMDs, they risk liability and losing their license.

Medicine is not an exact science and doctors have very few tools to come up with a diagnosis, so it is up to the doctor and his experience/knowledge to come up with a proper diagnosis. When you think about it, modern medicine didn't start until the 1940's, right after the second world war. It is in its infancy, at least compared to Chines Medicine that has been around for thousands of years.

I think that the only cases where we could win would be if there is verifiable negligence on the part of the doctor where he willfully acted recklessly or against medical standards.

From the statement above, you can see that in theory we could sue every Lyme doctor that goes against CDC guidelines. If us Lymies started suing doctors, there would not be any more LLMDs to help us out or any that would be willing to take chances in losing their medical licenses to treat us.

I think you are misunderstanding my question. It wasn't lawsuits again the LLMDS treating lyme patients...I'm talking about the NON-LLMD negligent/lazy doctors who prematurely diagnose you with anxiety or psychosomatic illness or refuse to run tests on you just because it doesn't "clinically" make sense until you get really sick...with lots of damage financially, physically, and emotionally.