Skip to main content

Table 1 Classification system of diagnostic discrepancy according to previous categorizations [7, 8, 10] with minor modifications

From: Diagnostic errors in fatal medical malpractice cases in Shanghai, China: 1990–2015

Classifications

Major discrepancies-Class I

 Knowledge of major diagnosis would have prolonged survival or cured patients without leading to deaths (e.g. Patients with acute pancreatitis were treated as myocardial infarction)

Major discrepancies-Class II

 Knowledge of major diagnosis would not have changed survival even with correct diagnosis (e.g. Patients with bone fractures developed pulmonary emboli)

Minor discrepancies-Class III

 Discrepant minor diagnosis was not directly related to cause of death, but would affect the prognosis if not treated (e.g. Disseminated neoplastic patients with pneumonia)

Minor discrepancies-Class IV

 Clinically non-diagnosed occult diseases that would not affect the prognosis but may have epidemiological or genetic importance (e.g. Symptomless liver steatosis, prostatomegaly)

Non-discrepancy- Class V

 Non-discrepant diagnoses

Non-classifiable cases- Class VI

 Patients died immediately after admission without any diagnostic procedures, or the clinical diagnoses were blank, missing, or ambiguous