Doctors are not infallible, and one of the most common mistakes that health care practitioners in Oregon and around the country make is a diagnostic error. A doctor could fail to diagnose a patient, diagnose a patient with a condition that they do not have or...
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Month: November 2016
Common medical conditions that are often misdiagnosed
There are many reasons why patients in Oregon may be misdiagnosed or not diagnosed when they have a serious medical condition. Some of the reasons for diagnostic errors include inaccurate tests, doctor negligence or a lack of full disclosure of symptoms by the...
Diagnostic issues with cellulitis
More than 2.3 million individuals per year visit emergency rooms in Oregon and across the U.S. because of potential cases of cellulitis, a potentially serious bacteria infection. The costs for this care on a national level involve billions of dollars; however,...
Different symptoms of breast cancer
Oregon women should be aware that the presence of a lump is not always the initial sign of breast cancer, according to researchers in England. In fact, one out of every six women in the study who ended up being diagnosed with breast cancer originally consulted...
Study identifies high rate of cellulitis misdiagnosis
An emergency room physician in an Oregon hospital might decide that a person experiencing fever, chills, swollen glands and a painful rash has cellulitis, which could be an error. Researchers who conducted a 30-month study of 259 inpatients at one hospital...
The impact of misdiagnosed cellulitis
Cellulitis is a common bacterial skin infection that afflicts many Florida residents, but it is also one that is prone to a misdiagnosis. It is the reason for almost 2.3 million visits to emergency rooms around the country each year. Among those who seek...
Discoveries may help Oregon women beat breast cancer
On average, one of every eight American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point. Traditionally, tumors have been treated with a combination of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. They are often removed first with chemotherapy used to get rid...
Studies show that COPD and asthma are often misdiagnosed
Oregon residents may be shocked to learn that between a third and a half of those diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma may not actually be suffering from these debilitating conditions. Experts say that this common form of misdiagnosis...
Rare diseases and the challenges in diagnosing them
Some diseases can have obscure symptoms, which may cause diagnostic difficulties for Oregon health care providers. Others are difficult to pinpoint because they are not very common. A disease is deemed to be rare if it occurs in less than one person per 200,000...