Medical professionals take an oath to treat all patients, regardless of their personal characteristics or lifestyle choices. They should offer the same standard of care to every patient they treat. They swear to do no harm.
Unfortunately, upholding that oath can be difficult, especially when people are unaware of their own personal biases. Like anyone else, physicians internalize social messaging about groups. They also generalize their own negative experiences, which can lead to them judging certain people due to situations that may not have involved them. In medicine, bias based on race and sex can have profound negative consequences for patients in need of care.
Diagnostic accuracy requires trust
For a physician to effectively diagnose a patient, they must believe what the patient conveys about their symptoms. Research shows that doctors often have internal biases that prevent them from truly believing the pain symptoms and similar medical complaints brought by women and patients with darker skin tones, in particular.
That bias may not be intentional, but it can still lead to patients going without care because the doctor cannot diagnose them. In cases where another competent professional could have diagnosed the patient effectively, they may have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit when bias interfered in the diagnostic process.
Reviewing what happened during appointments with a specific physician – and analyzing relevant medical records – with a medical malpractice attorney can help patients explore their options. If a physician engaged in malpractice by negligently ignoring a patient’s symptoms, filing a medical malpractice lawsuit brought on the basis of a preventable diagnostic error could be possible.