Lost Chance Damages in Failure to Diagnose Medical Malpractice Case

There are many elements of damages in a personal injury case. Any or all of these elements of damages such as medical expense, pain and suffering and lost income may be present in a medical malpractice case.

Lost chance damages are allowed in New Mexico in medical malpractice cases in those cases where a patient loses a chance a better medical outcome due to the negligence of medical providers.

This can occur in many different situations. It is most common in cases of misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose. Early in the course of an illness or disease, there are often several and sometimes many viable treatment options. In cases where there was a failure to properly diagnose, these alternatives are typically lost.

In many cases, the failure to diagnose leads to catastrophic or deadly consequences to the family. Perhaps the most common are the failure to diagnose cancer and the failure to diagnose heart failure. When this happens, the patient and the family are entitled to lost chance damages.