Failure to Diagnose Cancer
Albany Attorneys: Failure to Diagnose Cancer
At Powers & Santola, LLP, we are dedicated to seeking full and fair compensation for individuals who have suffered injuries due to delayed cancer diagnosis. Our Albany failure to diagnose cancer lawyers put their extensive experience, wealth of resources and commitment to client service to work in every case our firm takes. If you have been injured, or if you have lost a loved one due to medical malpractice, contact our New York law firm to schedule your free initial consultation.
Common Causes of Delayed Cancer Diagnosis
Delays in the diagnosis of cancer occur for many reasons, including:
- Ignoring or failing to follow up on patient complaints. A physician should never ignore or minimize a patient's concerns that something is wrong just because the physician's examination has negative findings.
- Assuming that a condition has a "benign" cause (such as attributing rectal bleeding to hemorrhoids or hoarseness or cough to an upper respiratory tract infection).
- Accepting a symptom as a diagnosis, rather than determining the actual cause of the symptom (such as treating anemia without determining the cause of the symptom).
- Relying upon an indirect means of diagnosis (such as accepting x-rays or mammograms as definitive), when a diagnosis can only be made by a biopsy.
- Failing to follow up on or reevaluate a patient (such as in the case of a patient with a borderline lymph node enlargement; a patient with hoarseness and a cough; a woman who has a lump in her breast during her menstrual period; or a man with a rising PSA).
- Failing to review and follow up on abnormal laboratory or radiological reports. This often occurs because a report is filed in a patient's medical chart without being read or because of a failure to promptly communicate the result to the patient.
- Accepting a negative test result as correct without following up to determine the actual cause of the condition.
- Failing to interpret radiological and laboratory tests correctly. Studies demonstrate that substantial percentages of chest x-rays, mammograms, PAP smears, and similar tests are interpreted incorrectly.
- Failing to obtain a complete and accurate history, including all family, employment, environmental, and personal risk factors.
- Failing to perform a through and adequate physical examination and correlating those findings with test results.
When a health care provider's malpractice causes a delay in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and that delay results in a poorer prognosis for the patient, the health care provider may be held liable for the resulting damages. Our medical malpractice lawyers will take the time and effort required to compile all necessary evidence to support your personal injury claim.
Learn more about our medical malpractice representation by visiting our Failure to Diagnose website.
Contact Our NYC Medical Malpractice Lawyers
For additional and more detailed information about our delayed cancer diagnosis practice, contact our personal injury law firm online or call us toll free at 866-689-9692. To learn about delays in diagnosing specific types of cancer, read more about the following topics:
