Diabetes is the seventh biggest cause of death in the U.S. It can also increase the propensity to dying from a stroke or heart attack and can damage the body in many other ways. It is the primary cause of blindness in adults, amputation of a leg or kidney failure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It is vital to diagnose diabetes early. You can reverse prediabetes if you catch it soon enough. Type one diabetes can be controlled with insulin but not prevented, while type two can be prevented in some cases, or at least delayed. Failing to detect gestational diabetes in a mother can harm both mother and baby.
Sadly, diabetes is sometimes spotted too late or misdiagnosed leaving people to suffer or die unnecessarily. These are some of the common errors doctors make regarding diabetes.
- Not detecting high blood sugar levels.
- Failing to recognize the reason for high blood sugar.
- Missing high cholesterol levels.
- Not recommending you have your eyes checked.
- Failing to notice your wounds heal slowly as a sign of diabetes.
- Misdiagnosing Type two as type one diabetes.
As with any medical malpractice claim, you need to show the doctor in question had a duty of care to you and did not meet this duty of care. Then you need to show you suffered harm as a result of it. Proving medical malpractice is complicated, but the consequences of not detecting diabetes are grave. If you have had a leg amputated, gone blind, suffered a heart attack or a stroke, it is heartbreaking to think your doctor could have prevented it.
