A cancer diagnosis can fill you and your family with fear and uncertainty.
People rely on doctors to provide accurate and timely diagnoses for the best possible outcomes. Sometimes, a doctor may fail to detect cancer in a timely fashion, leading to a different course of treatment and result.
If the doctor’s failure resulted from negligence, you can file a medical malpractice lawsuit, resulting in financial compensation.
However, a lawsuit can take considerable time and involve many factors outside your control. The one thing that you can do is to contact a medical malpractice lawyer. You can discuss your case with them during your free initial consultation, and they will explain your possible legal options.
A medical malpractice lawyer can build your case and work to get justice and accountability on your behalf.
Timely Detection of Cancer Can Improve a Patient's Prognosis
Early or timely diagnosis is one of the most critical factors in the patient's chances of survival. The patient has more treatment options when they can catch their cancer early. Maybe surgery or radiation alone can address the tumor, and they may not have to undergo chemotherapy.
Further, early detection increases the chances of a localized tumor. The longer cancer goes without detection, the greater the chances that it can metastasize and spread to more distant parts of the body.
Survival rates decrease when doctors detect cancer at an advanced stage, yet 50 percent of cases of cancer reach this stage before doctors diagnose it.
Available screening tests only diagnose one in every seven cancer cases. Accordingly, the doctor may need to rely on their skill and experience to detect signs of cancer and order the appropriate testing.
Reasons Why a Doctor May Fail to Diagnose Cancer
Doctors may fail to diagnose cancer promptly by:
- Failing to perform adequate testing on the patient
- Not listening to the patient when they report symptoms or dismiss their health concerns
- Not referring a patient to an oncologist when they should have suspected the possibility of cancer
- Misreading test results that indicate cancer
- Conducting the wrong tests to diagnose cancer
- Ignoring the patient's specific risk factors when treating them
- Not properly performing early screening for cancer at certain points in their patient's life
Regardless of why the doctor did not detect the cancer earlier, their mistake can jeopardize the health of you or a loved one. Sometimes, the patient's health and prognosis may have improved if the doctor had asked a few more questions or performed a simple test.
Can Failure to Diagnose Cancer Be Medical Malpractice?
When a doctor fails to diagnose cancer, it can have devastating consequences.
Delayed or missed diagnoses can lead to delayed treatment, allowing the cancer to progress to more advanced stages and become harder to treat. It can also rob patients of the opportunity to explore alternative treatment options or participate in clinical trials.
In some cases, a patient's chance of survival may significantly decrease due to a failure to diagnose cancer in its early stages.
Not every instance in which a doctor fails to diagnose cancer is a ground for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Some cancers are particularly difficult to detect and diagnose.
For example, the pancreas is located deep within the abdomen, making it difficult for the doctor to spot a tumor there.
However, in some instances, a doctor should have done something differently, which may have resulted in an earlier diagnosis of the disease. Medical malpractice lawsuits involve showing that the doctor negligently treated a patient.
To win a medical malpractice case, you need to prove:
- The medical professional owed you the duty of care
- They breached their duty of care by doing something unreasonable under the circumstances
- You suffered an injury
- You would not have suffered an injury had it not been for the careless actions of the medical professional
If you cannot prove any of those four elements, you will not have the legal right to financial compensation in your case.
How to Prove That a Doctor Committed Medical Malpractice
You must prove that the doctor who failed to diagnose your cancer did something unreasonable under the circumstances. Essentially, you need to review their care and compare it to what a reasonable doctor of similar expertise would have done.
Your medical malpractice case may depend on two things. The first is the testimony of expert witnesses, who will give their opinion about what a reasonable medical professional should have done.
The expert witness will review the care that you received, describe the doctor's mistakes, and explain how the doctor should have diagnosed your cancer. Your witness relies on their knowledge to give an objective opinion about what went wrong and why the doctor may be to blame for the injuries.
Then, if you file a lawsuit, your medical malpractice attorney will get to speak directly with the doctors who failed to diagnose you. You may conduct depositions, where your medical malpractice lawyer will get to question the doctor and other witnesses under oath. You may gather evidence through the discovery process that you can use if your case goes to trial.
The Challenges in a Missed Cancer Diagnosis Lawsuit
Proving causation is one of the biggest hurdles that you will need to overcome when you are filing a medical malpractice lawsuit for a delayed diagnosis of cancer.
You must establish a direct tie between the doctor's delay or failure to diagnose cancer and the patient's prognosis. In other words, you have to show that the patient would have had better chances of survival or undergo less treatment if the doctor detected the cancer earlier.
If the patient had a more aggressive form of cancer, the doctor may claim that even diagnosing it on time may not have done anything to better the patient's condition.
Regardless, you will face a challenging case and should have extensive evidence to prove your damages. The doctor's carelessness may have damaged your health or that of a loved one.
The Statute of Limitations in a Failure to Diagnose Case
Each state has laws limiting the time you must file a lawsuit for a doctor's failure to diagnose injuries. The period may start at the time they should have taken steps to give you a timely cancer diagnosis. Other states have different statutes of limitations that apply specifically to medical malpractice cases without special rules for failure to diagnose cases.
Talk to a medical malpractice lawyer near you immediately so you can take action before the statute of limitations runs out.
Your Damages in a Medical Malpractice Case
If you succeed in a medical malpractice case, you may recover substantial financial compensation. The compensation that you receive depends on who is filing the case.
If a doctor's failure to diagnose you caused you harm, you may recover traditional personal injury damages that include:
- Medical expenses to treat the disease
- Lost earnings from being unable to work
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Emotional distress
- Embarrassment and humiliation
You must prove that you suffered damages beyond what you may have ordinarily had to deal with had your doctor diagnosed your cancer sooner.
You may even qualify for punitive damages if you prove the medical professional was egregiously negligent. Only a jury can award you punitive damages if you win your case at trial. Jury members may make an example of the negligent doctor when they see alarming facts.
If your loved one died because of a delayed cancer diagnosis, your family can file a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctor.
Then, you can get paid for the personal losses that you suffered, including:
- The earnings that your loved one would have earned had they survived and continued working
- The relationship that you had with the deceased person
- Your grief from losing a loved one to someone else's wrongful actions
- The guidance and support that the deceased person provided to the family
In addition, the personal representative can file a survival action to recover the damages that the deceased person suffered between the time of their injury and their death.
When the case involves a delayed diagnosis of cancer, the patient conceivably began to suffer the injury at the time that the doctor should have taken steps to diagnose their cancer correctly.
Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Medical malpractice cases involve several complexities.
You may face an even more significant challenge in failure to diagnose cases because of the difficulties in proving unreasonable actions and causation.
Finally, the medical professional, their employer, and the insurance company often vigorously defend medical malpractice cases, given what is at stake for them. They know that medical malpractice settlements and verdicts can reach millions of dollars, especially when a life is lost.
A medical malpractice attorney is a must in your case. They will compile the case that you need to qualify for financial compensation.
When you hire a medical malpractice lawyer, they can do the following for your case:
- Obtain and review the patient's medical records to learn more about what the medical professional did or did not do
- Hire expert witnesses and work with them to determine exactly how the doctor fell short of the standard of care expected of them under the circumstances
- Quantify the amount of damages that you are seeking and work with expert witnesses to learn more about your case
- Prepare and file a medical malpractice lawsuit that states the basis of your claim and the damages that you seek
- Continue to build your case in court, aggressively gathering evidence through the discovery process
- Negotiate a potential settlement with the defendant or their insurance company
- Litigate your case in court if you do not reach a settlement agreement
You need to hire a medical malpractice lawyer with specific experience in this practice area. Since these highly complex cases involve complicated medical data, you need a medical malpractice attorney to seamlessly work with expert witnesses.
Many medical malpractice cases end in a settlement agreement with the defendant. You can only negotiate a settlement when your medical malpractice lawyer can build a strong case showing the doctor's negligence.
How Much Does a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Cost?
There are uncertain chances of success in any medical malpractice case. In addition, you can expect that a medical malpractice case can stretch for years based on its complexity and the court's docket.
The last thing you want to worry about is paying a medical malpractice lawyer during this time.
Thankfully, you do not have to make these payments because medical malpractice attorneys typically work on a contingency fee basis. This arrangement means the attorney's fees are contingent on the case's outcome.
If the attorney successfully secures a settlement or wins the case at trial, they will receive a percentage of your compensation. However, if the case does not succeed, you will not have to pay any fees to your attorney.
A Medical Malpractice Attorney is Standing By
If you or a loved one have suffered harm due to a doctor's failure to diagnose cancer, do not hesitate to seek legal advice.
By pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit, you can hold the responsible party accountable and obtain the financial resources necessary to afford ongoing medical care and treatment.
Remember, you deserve the best possible chance at a healthy and fulfilling life, and a personal injury attorney can help you achieve that.