Personal Injury Law

Bernie Mac's Widow Sues Doctor For Failure to Diagnose

Losing a loved one is difficult in the best of circumstances. To believe that the doctor failed to recognize signs of an illness and not diagnose is agony. The late comedian Bernie Mac's widow is suing his dermatologist for at least $50,000 for allegedly failing to recognize his symptoms of double pneumonia and keep him in the office for nine hours rather than sending him to the hospital.

Mac's doctor, Rene M. Earles, claims that Mac was in the office with a rash and wheezing. When Mac was questioned he admitted that another doctor had given him a shot for a cold. Earles says he called that doctor and upon being told Mac had been diagnosed with double pneumonia sent him to the hospital in a chauffeur driven car.

If you feel that a tragedy occurred due to a doctor's failure to diagnose a loved one there are a few things you should know. First you must be able to prove that the lack of diagnosis caused the harm or made it significantly worse. Secondly negligence on the doctor's part must also be proved. You must show that a doctor should have been reasonable able to make a diagnosis based on the symptoms.

Proving these cases can be difficult. If the harm suffered would have occurred whether or not the doctor diagnosed the problem then there is no claim for negligence. Another issue is misdiagnosing one set of symptoms for another condition. If the misdiagnosis was made reasonably and treatment was made, even though incorrect, no negligence or malpractice was committed.

Full post as published by Tennessee Law Blog on August 25, 2010 (boomark / email).