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Delayed & Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyers Serving Injured Patients in Syracuse, New York
When a delayed diagnosis or failure to diagnose situation arises, the patient and their family may be left in shock. They may be grappling with late-stage cancer when they had no idea they were dealing with cancer. The patient may have a shortened lifespan and be confronting their own mortality. This is frustrating when the cause is a negligent healthcare provider.
We all reasonably rely on our medical providers to accurately diagnose our medical conditions, especially when dealing with something as serious as cancer. If your medical professional failed to recognize symptoms of cancer and harmed you as a result, you may be able to pursue financial compensation for the harm you suffered by filing a medical malpractice claim. Learn more about filing a delayed diagnosis lawsuit when you call the medical malpractice attorneys at Powers & Santola, LLP. Our law firm has successfully recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for our clients. Contact us for your free case review.
How Is Cancer Diagnosed?
According to the National Cancer Institute, several methods exist to accurately diagnose cancer, including:
- Blood chemistry test – A blood chemistry test measures the amount of certain substances in your body that can indicate cancer, such as certain metabolites, proteins, electrolytes, fats, and sugars. This test can also reveal how well organs are functioning.
- Complete blood count – This test measures the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and blood platelets. It is more commonly used to test for leukemia.
- Cytogenetic analysis – This medical procedure looks for chromosome changes in the patient’s blood, tissue, bone marrow, or amniotic fluid, which can be a sign of some types of cancers.
- Immunophenotyping – This uses antibodies to identify cells, often on blood or bone marrow samples, to monitor blood disorders such as leukemia or lymphoma.
- Biopsy – Biopsy is a surgical procedure in which a doctor removes a sample to
- Tumor marker tests – Tests for tumor markers look for substances that cancer cells produce or that other cells form to respond to cancer.
- Urinalysis – An analysis of urine may be able to help diagnose kidney or bladder cancer.
- CT scan – CT scans take a series of pictures of a patient’s organs from different angles to create detailed 3-D images of the body, which can sometimes reveal signs of cancer.
- MRI – MRI uses a powerful magnet and radio waves to photograph your body, followed by detailed images of your body’s interior.
- Nuclear scan – A nuclear scan uses radioactive material to take pictures of the interior of the patient’s body, sometimes revealing cancerous areas.
- Bone scan – Bone scans check for abnormal areas or bone damage. They are used to diagnose bone cancer and check for metastatic bone tumors.
- PET scan – A PET scan makes detailed 3-D pictures of areas in the patient’s body, based on the presence of glucose.
- Ultrasound – Ultrasounds use high-energy sound waves that echo off tissue inside the patient’s body. Medical professionals use the echoes to create pictures of areas in the body, which may show cancerous areas.
- X-ray – X-rays use low doses of radiation to photograph bones and other parts of the body.
Medical advances have soared in recent years, allowing healthcare professionals to accurately diagnose cancer more quickly, saving lives in the process. However, if a medical provider does not recognize the symptoms of cancer or order the proper tests, the cancer can be missed, or the diagnosis can be delayed.
How Often Is Cancer Misdiagnosed?
Unfortunately, cancer is misdiagnosed relatively frequently. Medical errors are the third most common cause of death in the United States, according to a Johns Hopkins study. According to a study by the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, cancer is misdiagnosed in 11.1% of patients. The most commonly misdiagnosed forms of cancer and the rate of misdiagnosis for them are:
- Lung cancer – 22.5%
- Melanoma – 13.6%
- Colorectal cancer – 9.6%
- Breast cancer – 8.9%
- Prostate cancer – 2.4%
An experienced attorney can explore your options for recovering financial compensation by filing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Consequences of Cancer Misdiagnosis
Part of the problem of receiving a missed or delayed cancer diagnosis is that the consequences are dire. Tumors can grow and spread, reducing a patient’s treatment options. In some cases, the cancer is terminal, so the victim of medical negligence has a shortened life span.
The survival rate for different types of cancer decreases the more the cancer spreads. In the United States, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer that is localized is 99%, while only 28% after it has spread throughout different regions of the body. Lung cancer that is localized has a 58% five-year survival rate, while distant lung cancer only has a 6% survival rate. Colorectal cancer has a 90% five-year survival rate when it is localized, compared to 14% when it is distant. Prostate cancer has a 100% five-year survival rate for localized cancer, compared to 31% when distant.
In other cases, additional chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be necessary, which can cause severe and long-lasting consequences. If the patient is diagnosed with a different condition, they may receive treatment they do not need and that can cause its own set of complications and side effects.
Common Causes of Delayed or Missed Cancer Diagnoses
A missed or delayed cancer diagnosis may result from a medical mistake. These medical mistakes can occur for various reasons, such as:
- Failing to obtain a complete medical history – Healthcare professionals need to obtain a full medical and family history from a patient so that they are aware of genetic predispositions. If they fail to obtain this information, they may miss indicators of cancer.
- Failing to include cancer in the differential diagnosis – The differential diagnosis is the process physicians use to diagnose a patient. It involves conducting a physical examination, reviewing a patient’s symptoms, considering all medical conditions that could be indicated, and ordering tests to narrow down the potential diagnosis. A medical provider who fails to include cancer on the differential diagnosis when another doctor using the same information would have may cause a delayed or missed cancer diagnosis.
- Prematurely excluding cancer from the differential diagnosis – Medical professionals may make other errors that cause them to prematurely exclude cancer from the differential diagnosis. For example, they may incorrectly conclude that the patient has another medical condition. This is more common in cases involving rare cancers.
- Failing to order appropriate tests – The treating doctor may fail to order tests that would have resulted in the correct diagnosis of cancer or the exclusion of other conditions.
- Improperly performing tests – Lab technicians or other healthcare professionals may negligently perform tests, which can result in inaccurate test results until other professionals correctly perform them.
- Incorrectly interpreting test results – Doctors may misinterpret test results, causing an incorrect diagnosis.
- Failing to consult or refer the patient to specialists – If information is outside the scope of the doctor’s experience, they may need to consult with a medical expert or refer the patient to a specialist for further evaluation. Failing to take these steps could constitute medical malpractice in some cases.
These are just a few possible causes of medical mistakes that can result in an incorrect cancer diagnosis. The medical malpractice lawyers at Powers & Santola, LLP can investigate your case to see what went wrong and who is responsible for your inaccurate diagnosis.
Who Is Responsible for a Cancer Misdiagnosis?
Cancer diagnoses are often a collaborative effort between healthcare professionals. When you are not diagnosed correctly, various medical providers could be responsible. A healthcare provider in a medical malpractice case could include any individual or organization involved in your medical treatment or the provision of your healthcare.
Some examples of medical professionals who could be responsible for a cancer misdiagnosis and named as defendant in a personal injury lawsuit include:
- Your primary care physician who misses physical symptoms of cancer or fails to order necessary tests
- A specialist or oncologist you are referred to who diagnoses you with a different medical condition
- A radiologist who does not draw attention to the results of an X-ray, CT scan, or other diagnostic test when the test was ordered for a different medical concern, leaving the cancer unattended
- A pathologist who incorrectly reports a sample is not malignant
Our medical malpractice attorneys have had considerable results in legal actions taken against negligent healthcare providers, including doctors, surgeons, specialists, nurses, medical facilities, hospitals, and others.
How Our Cancer Diagnosis Attorneys Help
If you or a loved one has suffered harm because of a delayed cancer diagnosis, our dedicated team is here to help. Some other law firms may treat you like just another case, but we truly care about you and your family. We want to help you obtain a fair resolution and hold the at-fault party accountable for their substandard care.
Our medical malpractice attorneys can meet with you to discuss your unique situation and explain your legal rights. We can obtain valuable evidence before it gets lost or destroyed to support your medical malpractice claim. We can also work with medical experts who can further strengthen your case and explain how the medical provider in question deviated from the standard of care. Powers & Santola, LLP has spent over three decades working on these complex cases, so we know how to prepare a case for trial and success.
We have honed the skills necessary to obtain favorable results inside and outside the courtroom. We can manage every detail of your case so you can focus on your health. We want to help you recover financial compensation to pay for medical bills and other losses so that you do not have to carry a financial burden because of someone else’s carelessness.
We offer a free consultation to review the facts of your situation and determine your legal options. Contact us today to get started with yours.
When Do Diagnostic Errors Equate to Medical Malpractice?
The essential legal elements that you must establish in a medical malpractice case are:
- A doctor/patient relationship – You must show you were a patient at the medical facility at the time of your misdiagnosis.
- Duty of care – You must establish what the standard of care was for your situation, meaning the level of care a doctor with similar education and background would have provided under similar circumstances.
- Deviation from the standard of care – Through expert medical testimony, you may be able to show that your doctor deviated from the standard of care by doing something or not doing something another doctor would have reasonably done under the circumstances.
- Patient injury – You must show the medical errors were the actual and legal cause of your injuries.
- Damages – Finally, you must have evidence that you suffered damages for which a court can award damages, such as medical expenses or lost wages.
Medical malpractice cases are complex. A personal injury attorney from our firm can help gather evidence to establish these legal elements.
What Is the Deadline to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in New York?
New York has a two-and-a-half-year statute of limitations that applies to most medical malpractice actions. However, in cases involving delayed cancer diagnoses, the statute of limitations does not begin to tick until you discover or reasonably should discover the medical mistake or the last date of your medical care in the case of ongoing treatment. Taking legal action within this time limit is essential to protecting your legal rights.
Contact Powers & Santola, LLP for a Free and Confidential Case Review
If you or your family has been impacted by a missed or delayed cancer diagnosis, Powers & Santola, LLP can help. We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of our clients. We are ready to help you, too. Contact us today for a free initial consultation.
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