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 |