Springfield Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyer

Misdiagnosis and Failure to Diagnose Cancer

Misdiagnosing cancer or diagnosing cancer when it’s too late to treat successfully is a serious error that should not occur. Physicians are trained to detect symptoms and signs that point to early stages of this illness. They are even equipped with numerous advanced diagnostic tools such as, biopsies, digital mammograms, MRIs, and Cat/CT scans, so failing to diagnose or misdiagnosing cancer should never occur. Yet, thousands of patients suffer from a failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis and as a result, suffer dire consequences.

If there is any possibility of cancer, prompt and thorough testing is essential. A failure to diagnose cancer deprives the patient of an adequate opportunity to seek medical treatment as soon as possible and often leads to a worse prognosis or death. If you or a loved one has suffered as a result of a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose, you may be entitled to compensation for the harm caused. Attorney Alan Goodman and A Good Law Firm has successfully handled medical malpractice involving all types of cancer and has extensive experience in delayed cancer diagnosis claims.

Holding a Doctor Accountable for a Failure to Diagnose or Misdiagnose Cancer

For most types of cancers, early and correct diagnosis can make a significant difference in a patient’s prognosis. Thus, it is crucial for physicians to make the correct diagnosis as early as possible. A failure to diagnose may occur when a physician entirely misses the connection between a patient’s symptoms and a certain medical condition, causing no course of treatment to be taken. As a result of this failure, the patient does not get the proper medical care needed to treat the condition.

Common examples of Failure to Diagnose Cancer

The most common types of cancers that doctors fail to diagnose include:

• Bladder cancer
• Breast cancer
• Cervical cancer
• Testicular cancer
• Colon cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Gastric cancer
• Oral cancer
• Esophageal cancer
• Spinal cancer
• Lung cancer
• Skin cancer
• Soft-tissue Sarcoma cancer

Damages Recoverable from Failure to Diagnose Cancer

A patient who has suffered harm from a doctor’s failure to diagnose will be required to show that the physician owed the patient a duty of care, the physician breached that duty of care, the patient suffered an injury, and the patient’s injury was a direct result of the physician’s breach. Medical malpractice results when a healthcare provider’s conduct falls below the professional standard of care.

Cancer medical malpractice cases involve complex legal and medical issues. Like any medical malpractice claim, delayed diagnosis of cancer cases require a sophisticated team of legal professionals who have experience working closely with medical specialists and experts. If you have lost a loved one due to a physician’s failure to diagnose cancer, you may be able to file a wrongful death claim against the at-fault party. As a victim of medical malpractice, you may be entitled to compensation for your harm. While the forms of compensation may vary, a victim can generally seek damages arising from a failure to diagnose, including medical expenses incurred prior to your loved one’s death, loss of income and household services, loss of companionship, and funeral and burial costs.

Recovery is unique in cancer wrongful death cases. The concept of "loss of chance" is recognized under Massachusetts law. The attorney retains an expert medical witness to give an opinion on what the chance of survival would have been had an earlier diagnosis been made and treatment started. This percentage is used in the calculation of damages to be awarded where it is proven that the delay caused, contributed to or accelerated the death.