A correct diagnosis is the foundation of effective medical treatment. When your doctor identifies what’s wrong, appropriate treatment can begin, and your chances of recovery improve dramatically. But when a diagnosis is wrong—or delayed—the consequences can be devastating.
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis are among the most common forms of medical malpractice in the United States, affecting millions of patients each year. In New Jersey, patients who have been harmed by diagnostic errors have legal rights, and healthcare providers who fail to meet the standard of care can be held accountable.
If you suspect that you or a loved one has been injured because a doctor failed to correctly or timely diagnose a serious condition, this guide will help you understand your options under New Jersey law.
Understanding Diagnostic Errors
Diagnostic errors occur in several forms, each with potentially serious consequences for patients.
Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis happens when a healthcare provider concludes that you have one condition when you actually have another. For example:
- Diagnosing chest pain as acid reflux when the patient is actually having a heart attack
- Attributing fatigue and weight loss to stress when the patient has cancer
- Treating a bacterial infection as a viral illness
- Diagnosing a stroke as a migraine or vertigo
When a misdiagnosis leads to treatment for the wrong condition, patients suffer in two ways: the actual condition goes untreated and worsens, while they endure unnecessary treatments—sometimes with serious side effects—for a condition they don’t have.
Delayed Diagnosis
Delayed diagnosis occurs when a healthcare provider eventually reaches the correct diagnosis, but the delay allows the condition to progress and worsen. In many cases, earlier diagnosis would have led to:
- More treatment options
- Less invasive treatment
- Better survival rates
- Reduced complications
- Improved quality of life
Time-sensitive conditions like cancer, heart disease, stroke, and serious infections can progress rapidly. A delay of weeks or even days can mean the difference between a treatable condition and a terminal one.
Failure to Diagnose
In some cases, healthcare providers fail to diagnose a condition entirely—either missing it completely or attributing symptoms to an unknown cause without further investigation. This leaves patients without any treatment while their condition continues to worsen.
Conditions Most Commonly Misdiagnosed
Research has identified several conditions that are particularly prone to diagnostic errors.
Cancer
Cancer misdiagnosis is among the most devastating diagnostic errors. Cancers commonly missed or misdiagnosed include:
- Breast cancer: May be misdiagnosed as benign cysts or fibrocystic breast disease
- Lung cancer: May be attributed to bronchitis, pneumonia, or other respiratory conditions
- Colorectal cancer: Symptoms may be dismissed as hemorrhoids or irritable bowel syndrome
- Skin cancer (melanoma): May be mistaken for benign moles or other skin conditions
- Prostate cancer: May be missed if PSA testing is not performed or results are not properly followed up
- Cervical cancer: Can be missed if Pap smears are not performed or results are misread
When cancer is diagnosed late, it may have metastasized (spread to other parts of the body), dramatically reducing treatment options and survival rates.
Heart Attack
Heart attacks require immediate treatment. When symptoms are misdiagnosed—particularly in women, who may present with less typical symptoms—critical time is lost. Heart muscle that could have been saved dies, potentially leading to heart failure, disability, or death.
Stroke
Stroke is another time-critical condition where “time is brain.” Every minute without treatment results in additional brain cell death. Strokes may be misdiagnosed as:
- Migraines
- Vertigo
- Inner ear infections
- Intoxication
- Psychiatric conditions
Young stroke victims are particularly vulnerable to misdiagnosis because healthcare providers may not expect strokes in younger patients.
Infections
Serious infections like sepsis, meningitis, and necrotizing fasciitis require rapid treatment with antibiotics and supportive care. Delays in diagnosis allow infections to spread, potentially leading to organ failure, amputation, or death.
Pulmonary Embolism
Blood clots in the lungs can be fatal if not diagnosed and treated promptly. Symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pain may be attributed to less serious conditions, with deadly consequences.
How Diagnostic Errors Occur
Understanding how diagnostic errors happen helps explain why they constitute malpractice when they result from negligence.
Failure to Take an Adequate History
Many diagnoses depend on the information patients provide about their symptoms, medical history, and risk factors. When healthcare providers rush through patient interviews or fail to ask the right questions, they miss critical information.
Failure to Order Appropriate Tests
Based on your symptoms and history, healthcare providers should order tests to confirm or rule out potential diagnoses. Malpractice can occur when:
- Obvious tests are not ordered
- Test results are not followed up on
- Testing is delayed unnecessarily
- The provider relies on incomplete testing
Failure to Properly Interpret Test Results
Even when appropriate tests are ordered, errors can occur in interpreting the results. Radiologists may miss tumors on imaging studies. Laboratory values may be overlooked or misunderstood. Pathologists may misread biopsy samples.
Failure to Refer to Specialists
Primary care physicians and general practitioners cannot be experts in every condition. When symptoms suggest a condition outside their expertise, they should refer patients to appropriate specialists. Failure to make timely referrals can delay diagnosis of complex conditions.
Cognitive Biases
Healthcare providers are human, and cognitive biases can affect their diagnostic reasoning:
- Anchoring bias: Fixing on an initial diagnosis and ignoring evidence that contradicts it
- Availability bias: Diagnosing conditions that come easily to mind rather than considering alternatives
- Premature closure: Stopping the diagnostic process too early, before all possibilities are considered
- Confirmation bias: Seeking only information that confirms the suspected diagnosis
System Failures
Diagnostic errors often involve systemic problems rather than individual negligence alone:
- Poor communication between providers
- Lost or delayed test results
- Inadequate follow-up systems
- Time pressure that prevents thorough evaluation
- Electronic health record issues
Proving Diagnostic Malpractice in New Jersey
Diagnostic malpractice cases can be complex because medicine is not an exact science. Not every incorrect diagnosis constitutes malpractice—sometimes even excellent physicians reach wrong conclusions despite doing everything right.
To prove diagnostic malpractice in New Jersey, you must establish:
Standard of Care
Through expert medical testimony, you must show what a reasonably competent physician in the same specialty would have done when presented with your symptoms and circumstances.
Breach of Standard of Care
You must demonstrate that your healthcare provider failed to meet this standard—that they did not take the diagnostic steps a competent physician would have taken.
This might include proving that the provider:
- Failed to consider an obvious potential diagnosis
- Did not order tests that were clearly indicated
- Ignored or misinterpreted test results
- Failed to follow up on abnormal findings
- Did not refer you to an appropriate specialist
Causation: The Critical Link
Causation is often the most challenging element in diagnostic malpractice cases. You must prove that the delay or error in diagnosis caused your harm.
For example, in a cancer misdiagnosis case, you would need to demonstrate that:
- Earlier diagnosis was possible based on the information available
- Earlier diagnosis would have led to different treatment
- Earlier treatment would have resulted in a better outcome
This requires medical experts to testify about the likely progression of your disease and how outcomes would have differed with timely diagnosis.
Damages
You must prove that you suffered actual damages—additional medical treatment, lost income, pain and suffering, reduced life expectancy, or diminished quality of life—as a result of the diagnostic error.
The Affidavit of Merit in Diagnostic Cases
New Jersey requires an Affidavit of Merit from a qualified medical expert within 60 days of the defendant’s answer. In diagnostic cases, this expert must be qualified in the relevant specialty—typically the specialty of the physician who missed the diagnosis—and must affirm that there is a reasonable basis to believe malpractice occurred.
Statute of Limitations Considerations
New Jersey’s two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims can be complicated in diagnostic cases. The clock typically begins when you knew or should have known about the malpractice—not necessarily when the error occurred.
For example, if you were misdiagnosed with bronchitis in 2022 but didn’t learn you actually had lung cancer until 2024, the statute of limitations may begin in 2024 under the discovery rule. However, these determinations are fact-specific, and you should consult an attorney promptly if you suspect a diagnostic error.
What to Do If You Suspect Diagnostic Malpractice
If you believe a delayed or missed diagnosis has harmed you, take these steps:
1. Seek Appropriate Medical Treatment: Getting proper care for your actual condition is the top priority. Your health cannot wait while you consider legal options.
2. Request Complete Medical Records: Obtain records from all providers involved in your care, including office visit notes, lab results, imaging studies, pathology reports, and referral letters.
3. Get a Second Opinion: If you’re uncertain about a diagnosis, seeking another physician’s opinion can both protect your health and potentially document concerns about your original care.
4. Document the Timeline: Create a detailed timeline of your symptoms, when you sought care, what you were told, and when the correct diagnosis was finally made.
5. Consult a Medical Malpractice Attorney: Diagnostic malpractice cases require medical expertise to evaluate and substantial resources to pursue. An experienced attorney can assess whether you have a viable claim and connect you with the medical experts needed to support your case.
The Impact of Diagnostic Errors
The consequences of diagnostic errors extend far beyond the immediate medical harm.
Physical Impact: Delayed diagnosis often means more aggressive treatment, greater side effects, longer recovery, and worse outcomes. Conditions that might have been curable become manageable at best—or terminal at worst.
Financial Burden: Patients face costs for additional treatment, extended hospitalizations, long-term medications, and supportive care that might have been avoided with timely diagnosis.
Emotional Toll: Learning that your condition could have been caught earlier—that you didn’t have to suffer as much—creates anger, grief, and psychological trauma that can be as damaging as the physical harm.
Impact on Families: Diagnostic errors affect not just patients but their families, who provide care, support, and eventually may grieve a preventable loss.
Fighting for Justice and Accountability
Pursuing a diagnostic malpractice claim serves multiple purposes. It helps you recover compensation for the harm you’ve suffered, holding negligent providers financially accountable for their failures. It also promotes patient safety by encouraging healthcare systems to improve their diagnostic processes.
If you’ve been harmed by a missed or delayed diagnosis, you have the right to seek answers and pursue compensation. New Jersey law protects patients who have been injured by medical negligence, and experienced legal representation can help you navigate the complex process of holding healthcare providers accountable.
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Contact Gencarelli & Rimmassa Law Firm
If you or a loved one has been harmed by a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis in New Jersey, Gencarelli & Rimmassa Law Firm is here to help. Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys understand the medical complexity and emotional weight of diagnostic error cases, and we have the resources to take on healthcare providers and their insurers.
We work with top medical experts to evaluate your case and determine whether earlier diagnosis would have changed your outcome. Our team handles every aspect of your case so you can focus on your health and recovery.
We work on contingency—you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Don’t let the statute of limitations expire. Contact Gencarelli & Rimmassa today for a free, confidential case evaluation.
Call (201) 549-8737 now. Let us help you get the answers—and the justice—you deserve.
