Posted in News on October 14, 2016

Having medical exams and blood tests is likely an unpleasant and undesirable experience for residents in Montana and elsewhere; however, these are often considered extremely vital steps in gaining a better understanding of the health of a patient. Nonetheless, the failure to conduct the proper test or misreading a test could mean even more harm to a patient.

Diabetes is an illness that plagues many Americans; however, if a patient is not properly or timely diagnosed with this disease, this might worsen the condition or even cause the patient to act in a way that is more harmful to his or her overall wellbeing. Thus, the healthcare industry has been focused on improving the accuracy of a standard diabetes test, seeking to reduce medical errors with this test.

An improved test could enabled doctors, along with their patients, to do a better job at monitoring their sugar levels while also reducing the long-term risks associated with this illness, such as heart attack, stroke, blindness and kidney failure. There is also a push for an improved test for pre-diabetes. This could help determine if a patient is prone to developing this illness and what the patient could do not to prevent the illness from taking full form.

With an improved test, medical professionals could also do a better job at monitoring and treating those with diabetes. As of now, patients are required to get tested every three months; however, this new approach could improve the overall monitoring of the illness, even anticipating the impending costs and expenses to control blood-sugar levels.

While an improved test for diabetes could make life much easier for doctors and patients, there is still the issue at hand that current tests are not always properly or timely used. When negligent doctor fails to administer a needed medical test or makes a medical mistake when reading a test, this could harm the health and well being of a patient. In these cases, a patient does have recourses and could file a medical malpractice suit to recover damages, medical expenses and other related loses.

Source: Montana Standard, “A Better Diabetes Test?” Randy Dotinga, Oct. 5, 2016