Unconscious assumptions, also known as cognitive biases, can influence how a physician evaluates a patient. When someone in New York expresses a medical complaint, the physician might base decisions on that person’s race, gender, social class or sexual orientation. Factors like appearance, whether the person reminds the physician of someone else or the person’s manner of speech could all cause the physician to make a diagnosis based on assumptions instead of clinical facts.
Unconscious assumptions, also known as cognitive biases, can influence how a physician evaluates a patient. When someone in New York expresses a medical complaint, the physician might base decisions on that person’s race, gender, social class or sexual orientation. Factors like appearance, whether the person reminds the physician of someone else or the person’s manner of speech could all cause the physician to make a diagnosis based on assumptions instead of clinical facts.
Research published in Perspectives on Medical Education revealed that medical providers needed to consciously consider their biases to eliminate assumptions from their diagnostic decisions. Without this mindful effort, misdiagnosis remained a possibility. The study went through several phases in which participants were given patient data and asked to diagnose their conditions. Initially, they were not asked to consider their biases, and the results contained several inaccurate diagnoses.
Even when researchers revealed the mistakes to the participants, they continued to misdiagnose some cases. Only when the participants entered the phase in which they were told to confront their biases and adjust their thinking did the rate of misdiagnosis go down.
When a person experiences negligent medical treatment because of a misread test result or physician’s failure to diagnose a serious condition, malpractice may have occurred. The victim could consult an attorney to see if the facts of the case meet the legal standards for potentially recovering damages. The attorney could arrange for an independent medical expert to provide testimony and use this information to file a lawsuit. Before the case goes to trial, the attorney might attempt to gain a settlement from the medical provider or insurance company through direct negotiation. If necessary, the case could advance to a trial where the attorney could represent the victim.
