It is relatively common for doctors to diagnose someone with multiple sclerosis when the patient doesn’t have the disease – a misdiagnosis that not only causes patients potential harm but costs the U.S. health care system untold millions of dollars a year, according to a study published online today in the journal Neurology.
The study is based on a survey of 122 multiple sclerosis specialists nationwide and was conducted by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Neurology is the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The survey found that all but six of the multiple sclerosis specialists – more than 95 percent – had seen at least one patient within the past year who had been diagnosed with MS by another medical provider, but the MS specialist “strongly felt [the patient] did not in fact have MS.”