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Syracuse Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyers Serving Injured Patients in Syracuse, New York
Finding out that you have cancer is terrifying. Learning that you could have been diagnosed sooner is infuriating. If your doctor failed to diagnose cancer, you may have legal options to pursue compensation for the harm you’ve needlessly suffered.
An experienced medical malpractice lawyer from Powers & Santola, LLP can investigate your case, identify your legal options, and discuss your situation during a free case review. Call us today to arrange yours.
How a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help
When you have received a late diagnosis of cancer, you need the space and time to focus on your recovery. At the same time, you have a limited time to take legal action against the healthcare provider who failed to diagnose your condition. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can handle all the legal aspects of your claim, allowing you to focus on your health.
When you hire a medical malpractice lawyer, they can help by:
- Investigating the case
- Identifying all at-fault parties
- Gathering evidence to establish the standard of care and the breach of the standard of care
- Compiling information about the full extent of your damages
- Working with medical expert witnesses to help establish your legal claim
- Handling communication with medical malpractice insurance providers and others on your behalf
- Negotiating for fair compensation or taking timely legal action if a fair settlement cannot be reached
Now that you know the importance of hiring an experienced attorney to help you with your case, it’s essential that you hire the right one.
Why Do Cancer Cases Go Undiagnosed?
Healthcare professionals may fail to diagnose or misdiagnose cancer for various reasons. Some of the most common reasons cancer cases go undiagnosed include the following:
- Subtle early signs: Some cancers exhibit subtle symptoms that doctors may overlook or misinterpret.
- Similar symptoms: Many cancers have symptoms that are reminiscent of other medical conditions.
- Failure to obtain relevant information: Medical staff may fail to ask about a patient’s family or medical history, leaving them without the information required to accurately diagnose the condition.
- Failure to order appropriate tests: A doctor or other healthcare provider may fail to order the tests that would help accurately diagnose the condition. Alternatively, they could fail to follow up on abnormal test results.
- Failure to make a referral: Doctors may fail to refer patients to a specialist who could have properly diagnosed the condition.
- Incorrectly conducted tests: Medical providers may perform tests incorrectly, contaminate samples, or misinterpret test results.
- Radiology errors: Radiologists may fail ot detect nodules on X-rays or CT scans. Others might misinterpret dense breast tissue.
- Misinterpreting the test results: Healthcare providers may misread or misinterpret test results.
- Rarity of the cancer: Some cancers are very rare, and doctors may be unfamiliar with them or their symptoms.
- Lack of knowledge or experience: Healthcare professionals may lack the specific knowledge or experience in identifying and diagnosing certain types of cancer.
- Not enough time given to patients: Many doctors try to fit many patients into 15-minute blocks that provide insufficient time to learn about the patient, monitor their symptoms, and conduct a physical examination.
- Communication problems: Medical professionals may not communicate with each other, leading to gaps in knowledge about patients.
- Defective medical equipment: Medical equipment may not be calibrated correctly or may provide false negatives.
Some of these mistakes and oversights indicate medical malpractice. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can investigate your situation and guide you through the legal process.
Types of Cancers That Are Commonly Missed
Due to similar symptoms with less serious conditions and the factors described above, some cancers are more often misdiagnosed than others, including the following:
- Breast cancer
- Cervical cancer
- Uterine cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Colon cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Thyroid cancer
- Lung cancer
- Mesothelioma
- Esophageal cancer
- Skin cancer
- Bone cancer
Dangers of Failing to Obtain a Timely Diagnosis of Cancer
The major danger of not receiving a timely and accurate diagnosis of cancer is that the mortality rate is much worse for later-stage cancers. For example, localized breast cancer has a 99.3% survival rate, while distant breast cancer has only a 32% five-year survival rate.
New York recognizes the doctrine of “loss of a chance.” This doctrine allows malpractice patients to sue for damages if a medical provider’s failure to timely diagnose cancer delayed treatment and reduced the patient’s chance of a better outcome or prognosis.
Even when a late diagnosis is not deadly, an untimely diagnosis can lead to other adverse consequences. The cancer can spread, causing additional damage and pain. You might require more invasive medical interventions, such as chemotherapy, when less invasive measures might have been possible if your medical condition had been accurately diagnosed earlier.
Who Is Responsible for a Failed Cancer Diagnosis?
Various medical professionals can contribute to a misdiagnosis or failed diagnosis of cancer, such as:
- Primary care physicians
- Oncologists
- Radiologists
- Nurses
- Physician’s assistants
The key question is whether the healthcare provider failed to meet the expected standard of care, and that failure led to the failed diagnosis. The expected standard of care refers to the type of medical care that a person with a similar background and specialty would have provided under similar circumstances.
What Financial Compensation Can I Recover If My Doctor Failed to Diagnose Cancer?
While we know what you really want is for your condition to have been promptly diagnosed so you could have dealt with it appropriately, courts are limited in the relief they can provide. They can award damages for the harm that you’ve suffered due to the delayed diagnosis, such as:
- Additional medical expenses you incurred, including for chemotherapy, radiation, hospital stays, and future medical expenses
- Nursing care
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Household replacement services
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Disfigurement
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Our experienced legal team can help identify the damages you can seek as part of your medical malpractice claim.
What Is My Medical Malpractice Case Worth?
Every medical malpractice case is different. The value of every medical malpractice case is worth depends on factors specific to your individual case, such as:
- The type of cancer you have
- The stage when the doctor could have diagnosed you and the stage you are in now
- The type and duration of additional medical treatment you had to seek
- Whether the cancer caused permanent disabilities or impairments
- The extent of your pain and suffering
- Your anticipated future damages, such as medical expenses and lost income
- The reason for your failed diagnosis
- The reason for your delayed diagnosis
- Who is responsible for your delayed diagnosis, and their medical malpractice insurance
Our attorneys can emphasize why you deserve maximum compensation for your case.
How Does a Medical Malpractice Attorney Prove Malpractice Caused a Failure to Diagnose Cancer?
Not every cancer case can be accurately and timely diagnosed. Not all failure to diagnose cancer situations indicate medical malpractice. To recover compensation for a medical malpractice claim, your attorney will need to prove the following legal elements:
Existence of a Doctor/Patient Relationship
The first legal element you must prove is that a doctor/patient relationship existed between you and the defendant. It’s not enough to show that a random medical professional casually made a comment about your condition during a dinner party. The defendant must be someone from whom you sought medical care in an official capacity.
Standard of Care
Next, you must establish the standard of care that the medical provider owed you under the circumstances. Medical experts can testify about this standard of care.
Deviation from the Standard of Care
A medical expert can then analyze the facts to explain how the medical professional deviated from the standard of care. They can explain what another doctor who was acting reasonably would have done under the situation to diagnose your condition correctly.
Damages
The final element you must be able to prove to win a medical malpractice case is that you sustained damages. It’s not enough for you to show that the doctor delayed your diagnosis. Instead, you must be able to show you were harmed in some way due to this delay.
For example, you may have incurred additional medical expenses due to the failure to diagnose or lost wages due to an extended recovery time.
Our legal team can conduct an in-depth investigation, request medical records, interview witnesses, and work with expert witnesses to help establish these legal elements.
What Is the Deadline to File a Medical Malpractice Claim in New York?
In New York, most medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within 2 ½ years under the statute of limitations. However, there is a special exception in New York known as Laverne’s Law that applies to cases in which a medical provider failed to diagnose cancer. In these cases, the plaintiff has two and a half years from when the misdiagnosis of cancer is discovered. However, you must take legal action within seven years of the negligent act or omission or the last treatment when continuous treatment is involved.
Contact Our Syracuse Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyers for a Free Consultation
If your healthcare provider failed to diagnose cancer and you have been adversely affected, you deserve justice and accountability. The Syracuse failure to diagnose cancer attorneys from Powers & Santola, LLP can help demand the financial compensation you deserve to ease your life after such an egregious and life-altering error. Contact us today for a free consultation.
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