Unconscious assumptions, also known as cognitive biases, can influence how a physician evaluates a patient. When someone in New York expresses a medical complaint, the physician might base decisions on that person’s race, gender, social class or sexual orientation. Factors like appearance, whether the person reminds the physician of someone else or the person’s manner of speech could all cause the physician to make a diagnosis based on assumptions instead of clinical facts.

Misdiagnosis is a very common medical problem in New York hospitals, and it is a problem that can have fatal consequences. Every year, 5 percent of hospital patients in the U.S., roughly 12 million people, are misdiagnosed. This is a medical error that is more common than mistakes with prescription drugs.

A group of 24 researchers studied 110 patients who were misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis to better understand the reasons why. Of those in the study, 33 percent went 10 years or longer without a diagnosis, and 72 percent took medication for a condition that they didn’t have. This is problematic because some MS medications can have serious side effects, including brain infections, on patients in New York and around the country.