The Misdiagnosis Casebook in Clinical Medicine

One third of misdiagnosed medical cases result in serious injury or death. Moreover, 40,000-80,000 deaths occur each year in the United States alone because of misdiagnosis. This is a major clinical crisis that medical schools and hospitals have failed to adequately address. There is currently no book available that provides general clinicians with the knowledge to prevent such lethal errors in a variety of disciplines. Composed of clinical cases, the book represents seventy chapters fashioned into sixteen modules and are organized by systems, such as allergy and immunology, cardiology, neurology and rheumatology, just to name a few. Each chapter is organized with a general introduction to the topic followed by the name of the specific disease. Next comes the actual clinical case presentation followed by the differential diagnosis. It then explains what was misdiagnosed in the specific case and why. A general discussion and plan of action is then described followed by a conclusion. Uniquely incorporated in the book is a chapter dedicated to the legal perspectives of misdiagnosis followed by an editors perspective. The Misdiagnosis Casebook in Clinical Medicine is a valuable and much-needed resource for clinicians as well as practitioners in all areas of medicine.