Coming down with an illness is never a pleasurable experience. However, if the symptoms are easy to distinguish and you know what is wrong with you, for example like the flu, many wouldn’t even bother with going to the doctor – self medication with over the counter medicines are usually all that is needed to take care of it. However, sometimes a much more serious disease can disguise itself as the flu or a similar type illness and the incorrect diagnosis of condition in this instance can have grave consequences. As a patient in the South African health care industry, one of your rights is the correct and timely diagnosis of a disease, if this doesn’t happen the disease can wreak further havoc on your body.

One such disease is cancer. In many instances doctors will treat a patient conservatively for a number of weeks before further tests are done. Even though cancer doesn’t spread that rapidly normally, the sooner it is diagnosed, the sooner treatment can start and the better the chances of survival. For other types of illnesses, incorrect diagnosis of condition can lead to life-long suffering on the part of the patient. For example, a child that has meningitis can be thought to have flu and conventional flu treatment will not have any type of impact on it. The effects of meningitis on the body are varied and severe, from blindness, deafness or even mental retardation.

At Adele van der Walt Attorneys we deal with cases relating to incorrect diagnosis of condition every day, amongst a host of other complaints. If you or a loved one has suffered as a result of this, contact us today and we will help you every step of the way.

For more information on this subject, please give us a call at 012 460 3668 (SA)
or e-mail us at linda@avdw.co.za