A misdiagnosis often doesn’t arrive as a dramatic mistake. It can start as:
- A symptom documented one way, then interpreted too narrowly
- A test ordered “later,” but acted on “never”
- Abnormal results that weren’t escalated or communicated clearly
- A risk score or decision-support suggestion treated like certainty
- A follow-up plan that was vague—so the next step never happened
Markham residents commonly describe a pattern: multiple visits, a sense that something wasn’t right, then worsening symptoms after the diagnosis delay. The legal question is whether the earlier care met the Illinois standard of care—not whether the final diagnosis was correct.


