Potentially one-third of patients admitted to hospitals in New York for cellulitis have been misdiagnosed. Instead of cellulitis, they could have pseudocellulitis, a condition that resembles the bacterial skin infection but inflames the skin for other reasons. People misdiagnosed with cellulitis could receive unnecessary antibiotic therapy.

Medical malpractice affects many New York residents every year, and a common type is a misdiagnosis. A failure to diagnose a disease can lead to harm for the patient if treatment is delayed after a medical provider failed to correctly identify the patient’s condition. Another type of misdiagnosis occurs when a doctor tells patients that they have a condition that in fact they do not have, which can result in unnecessary invasive procedures.

Ticks are common in New York, which means that so is Lyme disease. While the tick-borne illness can be readily addressed with antibiotics, it has been known to linger on in the form of symptoms like joint pain, brain fog, fatigue and headaches. This condition is known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and it can last between several months and a couple years.