Could my child have been misdiagnosed?

As a parent, you only want the best for your child and this includes when you take him or her to a doctor in Pikeville County. You trust that your child’s pediatrician will be able to identify the cause of the problem but could your child become a victim of misdiagnosis?

According to The Atlantic, it is quite possible. When you think about a medical mistake, such as a wrong diagnosis, it is easy to picture an adult. Yet, many believe that the majority of diagnostic errors concern children. In a way, it should not be that surprising. Doctors who treat children face a tougher challenge because children may not be able to tell them everything that is going on or may not want to provide all of the facts.

For example, teenagers may not want to admit that they have been taking an illegal drug, even though that could help the doctor provide the correct treatment. Younger children often can’t differentiate between different levels of pain or identify when something in their condition has changed. This was part of the problem for a little boy who was suffering from the effects of ear and sinus infections. His doctor thought he had asthma, and consequently had been treating the child for about two years before the real cause of his breathing issues was discovered.

Unfortunately, the real extent of the problem is that there is no standard reporting system to reveal how many victims there are. A recent study suggests that misdiagnosis occurs in one out of every 20 outpatient experiences but other studies show the rate is much higher.