New study says misdiagnosis is most costly medical mistake

A new study by Johns Hopkins Medicine found that misdiagnosing diseases led to permanent disability and death, which is more than any other medical mistake.

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"Diagnostic errors are the most common, most catastrophic and most costly of medical errors," said Dr. David Newman-Toker, who led the research.

The researchers broke the study down by looking at which diseases doctors miss, which accounted for the most permanent disability and death cases.

They found 15 cases where doctors misdiagnosed a disease, including:

• Cancers, especially lung and colon
• Infections, such as meningitis and pneumonia
• Vascular diseases, such as stroke and heart attack

"I think that if we could diagnose these 15 diseases really well, much better than we're doing so now, I think we can eliminate almost half of the preventable harms," Newman-Toker said.

To avoid this happening to you, ask your doctor questions and don’t hesitate to find a second opinion.

Cox Media Group