diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/tabletgateway/vtgate_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/tabletgateway/vtgate_test.go
index 4e3ac83187e..18e66b81f1c 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/tabletgateway/vtgate_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/tabletgateway/vtgate_test.go
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ func TestReplicaTransactions(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Nil(t, err)
 	serving := replicaTablet.VttabletProcess.WaitForStatus("SERVING", time.Duration(60*time.Second))
 	assert.Equal(t, serving, true, "Tablet did not become ready within a reasonable time")
-	exec(t, readConn, fetchAllCustomers, "is either down or nonexistent")
+	exec(t, readConn, fetchAllCustomers, "not found")
 
 	// create a new connection, should be able to query again
 	readConn, err = mysql.Connect(ctx, &vtParams)
diff --git a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
index 0044477c5be..6649b96626d 100644
--- a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
+++ b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
@@ -381,7 +381,6 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) deleteTablet(tablet *topodata.Tablet) {
 	hc.mu.Lock()
 	defer hc.mu.Unlock()
 
-	key := hc.keyFromTablet(tablet)
 	tabletAlias := tabletAliasString(topoproto.TabletAliasString(tablet.Alias))
 	// delete from authoritative map
 	th, ok := hc.healthByAlias[tabletAlias]
@@ -393,14 +392,18 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) deleteTablet(tablet *topodata.Tablet) {
 	// which will call finalizeConn, which will close the connection.
 	th.cancelFunc()
 	delete(hc.healthByAlias, tabletAlias)
-	// delete from map by keyspace.shard.tabletType
-	ths, ok := hc.healthData[key]
-	if !ok {
-		log.Warningf("We have no health data for target: %v", key)
-		return
+
+	// the tablet has been deleted from the authoritative healthByAlias map so let's ensure it's deleted
+	// from the healthData map as well, which means we need to delete any existing combinations of
+	// keyspace.shard.tabletType we may have had for the tablet
+	for _, key := range hc.keysFromTablet(tablet) {
+		if ths, ok := hc.healthData[key]; ok {
+			delete(ths, tabletAlias)
+		}
 	}
-	delete(ths, tabletAlias)
-	// delete from healthy list
+
+	// We only need to recompute the healthy record for the current state of the tablet
+	key := hc.keyFromTablet(tablet)
 	healthy, ok := hc.healthy[key]
 	if ok && len(healthy) > 0 {
 		hc.recomputeHealthy(key)
@@ -413,6 +416,15 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) updateHealth(th *TabletHealth, prevTarget *query.Targ
 	defer hc.mu.Unlock()
 
 	tabletAlias := tabletAliasString(topoproto.TabletAliasString(th.Tablet.Alias))
+	// let's be sure that this tablet hasn't been deleted from the authortative map
+	// so that we're not racing to update it and in effect re-adding a copy of the
+	// tablet record that was deleted
+	_, ok := hc.healthByAlias[tabletAlias]
+	if !ok {
+		log.Infof("Tablet %s has been deleted, skipping health update", tabletAlias)
+		return
+	}
+
 	targetKey := hc.keyFromTarget(th.Target)
 	targetChanged := prevTarget.TabletType != th.Target.TabletType || prevTarget.Keyspace != th.Target.Keyspace || prevTarget.Shard != th.Target.Shard
 	if targetChanged {
@@ -723,6 +735,15 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) keyFromTablet(tablet *topodata.Tablet) keyspaceShardT
 	return keyspaceShardTabletType(fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s.%s", tablet.Keyspace, tablet.Shard, topoproto.TabletTypeLString(tablet.Type)))
 }
 
+// keysFromTablet returns a slice of potential type based keys for a tablet
+func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) keysFromTablet(tablet *topodata.Tablet) []keyspaceShardTabletType {
+	tabletTypeKeys := make([]keyspaceShardTabletType, len(topoproto.AllTabletTypes))
+	for i, tabletType := range topoproto.AllTabletTypes {
+		tabletTypeKeys[i] = keyspaceShardTabletType(fmt.Sprintf("%s.%s.%s", tablet.Keyspace, tablet.Shard, topoproto.TabletTypeLString(tabletType)))
+	}
+	return tabletTypeKeys
+}
+
 // getAliasByCell should only be called while holding hc.mu
 func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) getAliasByCell(cell string) string {
 	if alias, ok := hc.cellAliases[cell]; ok {
diff --git a/go/vt/discovery/tablet_health_check.go b/go/vt/discovery/tablet_health_check.go
index f2d36f9886c..f6f89715c9b 100644
--- a/go/vt/discovery/tablet_health_check.go
+++ b/go/vt/discovery/tablet_health_check.go
@@ -290,11 +290,9 @@ func (thc *tabletHealthCheck) checkConn(hc *HealthCheckImpl) {
 		if err != nil {
 			hcErrorCounters.Add([]string{thc.Target.Keyspace, thc.Target.Shard, topoproto.TabletTypeLString(thc.Target.TabletType)}, 1)
 			// We have reason to suspect the tablet healthcheck record is corrupted or invalid so let's remove the tablet's record
-			// from the healthcheck cache and it will get re-added again if the tablet is reachable
-			if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "health stats mismatch") ||
-				strings.HasSuffix(err.Error(), context.Canceled.Error()) ||
-				strings.Contains(err.Error(), `"error reading from server: EOF", received prior goaway`) {
-				log.Warningf("tablet %s had a suspect healthcheck error: %s -- clearing cache record", thc.Tablet.Alias, err.Error())
+			// from the healthcheck cache and the corrected tablet record will be fetched from the topology and added to the
+			// healthcheck cache again via the topology watcher.
+			if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "health stats mismatch") {
 				hc.deleteTablet(thc.Tablet)
 				return
 			}