Misdiagnosis is frequently confronted in clinical medicine as a cause of medical dispute. However, misdiagnosis itself is not medical malpractice. The decision of medical error or fault has to be performed through careful investigation about violation of due care.
There were 54 cases of misdiagnosis, clarified by medicolegal autopsy in National Institute of Scientific Investigation at 1990, among 118 deaths associated with medical c2re. Misdiagnosis held the first place as a cause of medical dispute in death cases. Medical part (internal medicine and pediatrics) occupied 57.4%, and surical part (surgery and ObGy), 31.5%, and remaining minor parts, 11.1%. The rate of misdiagnosis were more remarkable in medical part than surgical part. It showed characteristic differences between medical and surgical cases in subtypes of misdiagnosis. Wrong and under diagnosis were main subtypes in medical cases and skipped diagnosis in surgical cases.
Unfortunately, this report does not include comments on error of the cases due to shortage of materials. But the status and patterns of misdiagnosis could be appreciated through this report.
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