overdiagnosis

Etymology

over- +‎ diagnosis

Noun

overdiagnosis (uncountable)

1. (medicine) To diagnose something too frequently, or based on insufficient evidence, or without benefit to the patient.
   • 2007 January 2, H. Gilbert Welch, Lisa Schwartz And Steven Woloshin, “What’s Making Us Sick Is an Epidemic of Diagnoses”, in New York Times‎:

     While failing to make a diagnosis can result in lawsuits, there are no corresponding penalties for overdiagnosis.

   • 2018 August 19, Wendy A. Rogers And Yishai Mintzker, “Getting clearer on overdiagnosis”, in Journal of evaluation in clinical practice‎:

     Overdiagnosis refers to diagnosis that does not benefit patients because the diagnosed condition is not a harmful disease in those individuals.