Misdiagnosis in The Clinical Laboratory Field and Good Death
It is said that man is to err. However, some of the mistakes may be unnoticeable and unimportant, but others may be significant and fatal, leaving a considerable impact on a person’s life. Some of the life-threatening mistakes include medical misdiagnosis. A medical diagnosis determines the quality of medical care that a patient requires. Clinical laboratory diagnosis enables physicians to make appropriate medical decisions for their patients based on the test results. Notably, when a diagnosis is accurate and performed on time, a patient has a higher chance of achieving a positive health outcome, including recovery from an illness. However, as medicine is continuously getting complex due to the emerging of new diseases, an opportunity for diagnosis errors has emerged. A physician’s misdiagnosis, prescription of inappropriate drugs, and inadequate medical services have contributed to unnecessary deaths among patients. Similarly, misdiagnosis may also cause financial problems to a family due to the constant return to the hospital and the purchase of drugs.
A good death is free from avoidable distress, pain, and suffering for both the patient and their families and caregivers. Also, it ought to be in general accord with clinical and ethical standards. However, a misdiagnosis may lead to the deterioration in the health of a patient, and their untimely demise even when they would have had a long life expectancy. Ultimately, a patient may be denied their right to die a good death that is dignified and painful and cause suffering to their loved ones. Generally, death, disability, and other health complications can be reduced by preventing misdiagnosis. Notably, misdiagnosis in the clinical laboratory field can be prevented by:
- Implementing modern technologies and informatics systems: Adopting advanced technology into a health center will facilitate a paper-free form of patient records documentation, which reduces confusion and, ultimately, misdiagnosis. Similarly, physicians will be able to prescribe drugs digitally, reducing the probability of misdiagnosis from illegible, hand-written prescriptions.
- Fostering a communication practice between patients and hospital administrators: communication plays a significant role in a patient’s diagnosis. Therefore, encouraging dialogue between staff and patients creates a comfortable environment that allows patients to express their illness history without feeling judged, thus enabling them to get the right medical assistance.
- Patent rights: Patent rights and licenses should only be granted to medical institutions that have been inspected and found to have qualified medical personal. This will discourage quack physicians from licenses to operate illegally.
- Upgrading test kits: Updating test kits increases the accuracy of test results, thus reducing the probability of misdiagnosis.
- Public education: public education through mass media or within the clinical institutions should be conducted to sensitize public members about the importance of disclosing full information to a physician and reducing misdiagnosis.
- Implementing strict against misdiagnosis: Governments can implement legislation that governs medical practitioners and harsh punishments against practitioners who operated against the ethical code of conduct, leading to a misdiagnosis that causes severe complications to a patient.
Discussion Questions
- Have you ever been misdiagnosed, or do you know of anyone who has been misdiagnosed?
- What was the cause of the misdiagnosis?
- Was it preventable?
- Were there any severe consequences to you or the victim?
- What additional measures do you think can be taken to prevent future misdiagnosis?