When a doctor gets the patient's condition wrong, what are the repercussions? Does he get to goof around like House M.D? You know the answer to the second question, I'm sure. Though it's every practising doctor's worst nightmare, misdiagnosis is quite common in our country, thanks to the overburdened health care system. Another factor contributing to the same is the standard of medical education in India, which is taking a nosedive.
If the patient gets misdiagnosed he/she could lose his/her life, or develop debilitating complications of the disease. The economic burden that the patient & family have bear because of the misdiagnosis, if he/she doesn't die, has to be factored into the equation. Emotional distress accompanies every malady & this will be compounded by a misdiagnosis. Loss of job(s) can affect both the patient's family & the society at large.
The practising doctor could lose his job, or face legal consequences based on the disease that was misdiagnosed. Under the current scenario getting beat up is something that's highly probable. In that case maybe the doctor will also end up dying & the doctor patient ratio could be further compromised (more so if this cycle repeats).
How to prevent misdiagnoses..?
- Beef up on the basics:- Do this & your chances of a screwing up a diagnosis go down..
- Get acquainted with the latest developments in modern medicine:-Learn about the latest diagnostic tools, newly described entities and so on..
- Attend Conferences & Webinars:- Now this can be both enjoyable & enlightening at the same time..
- Patient education:-This is very important, especially if the patient's primary illness predisposes him/her to a condition eg, a diabetic developing emphysematous pyelonephritis.
- Oh yeah! Watch all the seasons of House M.D...😁
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