Category: Cancer Misdiagnosis

Each year, more than 82% of people visit a doctor or health care professional in America. These professionals can provide invaluable support when you are unwell. 

However, you also have to put a lot of trust in them, and each healthcare professional has a duty of care to their patients. This is a legal responsibility to protect their patients and provide a certain standard of care. So what happens if a doctor doesn’t meet this standard of care? 

Well, this could result in a misdiagnosis. In fact, this happens to around 7 million patients every year in America. If you receive the wrong diagnosis, you may be left without the necessary medication or treatment, which can be very dangerous. 

Fortunately, you may be able to get compensation for your misdiagnosis. Do you want to know more? Then read on to find out everything you need to know about misdiagnosis cases and when you can make a claim.

What Is Medical Misdiagnosis? 

If you are unwell, healthcare professionals can provide treatment and support for your condition.

However, to do this, they have to provide an accurate diagnosis. This is usually based on the information you provide, your symptoms, and the tests they have carried out. 

Misdiagnoses can occur when a doctor receives this information but fails to diagnose a condition correctly.

Types of Misdiagnosis

There are several ways that a doctor can misdiagnose a patient. This may happen if a doctor misinterprets test results or symptoms. This can result in a doctor: 

• Diagnosing their patient with another condition
• Failing to diagnose additional related conditions
• Failing to recognize complications associated with the diagnosed condition
• Missing a diagnosis completely and sending a patient home
• Diagnosing their patient with a serious condition that they don’t actually have
• Prescribing unnecessary treatment or surgery for their patient

Misdiagnosis can also occur when a doctor fails to organize the proper tests. As a result, this can seriously delay you getting an accurate diagnosis.

Why is Being Misdiagnosed Dangerous? 

Being misdiagnosed can be incredibly dangerous for patients. This may mean that you don’t get access to the treatment and support you need when you need it. 

As a result, your condition could worsen, or you could develop serious complications.

Cancer, for example, is easier to treat when it is identified in the early stages. Because of this, delayed or inaccurate diagnoses could have a serious impact on your chance of survival.

Misdiagnosed infections can also develop quickly without proper medication. 

If your condition does progress,s then this inevitably means that you will take longer to recover. This may mean that your overall treatment is more expensive. You may also have to take time off work, affecting your financial stability. 

Even if your misdiagnosis isn’t life-threatening, it can still be traumatic. Inevitably you will have to live with your symptoms for longer than necessary. Or if you’ve been misdiagnosed with another condition,n you may take medication unnecessarily.

This can have a considerable impact on your well-being and mental health. Many people who have been misdiagnosed develop anxiety, especially when it comes to seeing healthcare professionals. So this could affect your future health as well.

Being diagnosed with a serious condition you won’t have can also cause psychological harm. Because of this, you may be entitled to compensation if this has happened to you, even if you are perfectly healthy.

I Was Misdiagnosed: What Are My Legal Options?

Fortunately, help is at hand if you have been misdiagnosed by a healthcare professional. You could get compensation for your misdiagnosis with the help of an experienced lawyer. 

This is because many misdiagnoses occur when a doctor fails to meet their duty of care. When this happens, you could have a medical malpractice case.

You can bring a lawsuit against an individual or a healthcare practice, such as a hospital. This depends significantly on where your misdiagnosis occurred and who was responsible for your treatment.

Let’s take a closer look at the different claims you can make for medical misdiagnosis. 

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Medical malpractice lawsuits for misdiagnosis help you recover damages caused by your misdiagnosis. To do this, you will need to gather evidence about: 

• Your initial consultation 
• The tests your doctor ran 
• Their initial diagnosis and treatment plan 
• When you received an accurate diagnosis of your condition
• Your new treatment plan based on this
• The impact that your misdiagnosis has had on your health, finances, and emotional well-being 

A lot of this information will be available on your medical record. It also helps to keep a record of any appointments and correspondence you have had with a hospital or surgery during your treatment.

A medical malpractice lawyer can help you gather evidence to support your claim. This will also help you calculate how much you should seek in damages due to your misdiagnosis.

Once you have collected evidence for your case, you must file a complaint with the Medical Inquiry and Conciliation Panel (MICP) in Hawaii. This panel will access your case and can help you reach a settlement claim quickly. 

If you and the defendant cannot agree on your settlement,n you can take your case to court.

Wrongful Death Lawsuits 

As we have already mentioned, misdiagnosis can be fatal in some cases. If misdiagnosis contributed to the death of a loved one, then you can also seek compensation. 

In this case, your lawyer may recommend filing a wrongful death lawsuit. In that case, you will still need to collect similar evidence for a medical malpractice case.

You will also need to prove that your loved one wouldn’t have died if they’d received an accurate diagnosis. You will need an opinion from a medical professional for this. An experienced wrongful death lawyer can help you find someone you can speak to about this.

Damages That You Can Claim For in a Misdiagnosis Case 

Your settlement for a misdiagnosis claim should reflect its impact on your life. Because of this, your claim will include the damages you are seeking compensation for. 

These can include: 

• Compensation for pain and suffering caused by your misdiagnosis 
• Loss of income or employment opportunities
• The cost of your medical bills, especially if you required extensive treatment 
• The cost of hiring support staff or help at home
• Loss of enjoyment of life 
• The cost of future medical expenses related to your condition

You can also claim damages if someone you love has died due to misdiagnosis. Among other things, these can include emotional anguish, loss of financial support, medical bills, and funeral costs. 

When you file your case, you must outline the damages you are claiming. You’ll need to provide evidence to prove that you suffered these damages. You’ll also need to provide justification for the settlement that you are seeking.

Some damages, especially financial ones, are easier to prove and quantify. However, you can use testimony from witnesses and therapists to show the emotional impact your misdiagnosis has had on your life. 

Deadlines For Making a Claim 

As you can see, a successful misdiagnosis claim could provide valuable compensation for your suffering. However, it is vital to act quickly if you want to make a claim. 

The Statute of Limitations for filing medical malpractice claims in Hawaii is two years.

Of course, you cannot file a claim if you aren’t aware of the misdiagnosis. Because of this, the two-year clock starts from the date that you become aware of the misdiagnosis.

This could technically come years after your initial misdiagnosis. For example, you may be contacted by the hospital or seek a second opinion and receive an accurate diagnosis. Or your condition and symptoms may develop, resulting in an accurate diagnosis.

Once this happens, you have two years to gather evidence, file an injury with the MICP, and prepare for court. Your case itself may continue outside the two-year window. However, you must file your claim within the window itself.

Get Help With Your Medical Misdiagnosis Claim Today

Misdiagnosis can devastate your life, even if you eventually recover from your illness or injuries.

Because of this, you may be entitled to compensation for your misdiagnosis if your doctor failed to meet their duty of care. This won’t undo all of the damage caused by your misdiagnosis. However, it can provide valuable financial support and a sense of justice while recovering.

So what are you waiting for? If you have suffered due to medical misdiagnosis, get in touch with Cummings Law today. We’re happy to help.

More than 80,000 cases of misdiagnosis each year result in injury, disability, or even death. At least one-third of such cases relate to cancer.

While progress has been made in treating certain types of cancers, at times doctors can still make a wrong diagnosis. This can be a very devastating experience causing fear, anxiety, and contemplating the worst.

If you’ve had a cancer misdiagnosis that’s caused your health serious harm, you might have a case of medical malpractice. If so, you could receive compensation.

Want to know when it’s right for you to get in touch with a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer? Read on to find out when one might be right for you.

What are the Most Commonly Misdiagnosed Cancers?

First, it’s important to understand which cancers are most often misdiagnosed. That way, if you’re misrepresented as having any of them, it could be worth getting a second opinion.

Some of the most commonly misdiagnosed cancers are:

• Breast cancer
• Colorectal cancer
• Bladder cancer
• Melanoma
• Lymphoma
• Ovarian cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Sarcoma
• Lung cancer

There are numerous instances where misjudging a health issue can result in a cancer misdiagnosis. For example, you might be relieved to find that breathing problems or digestive distress aren’t in fact due to cancer as originally believed, but are actually due to a condition that’s much less severe.

What Can Lead to Cancer Misdiagnosis?

Unfortunately, cancer can be wrongly spotted for several reasons. While doctors believe that it’s uncommonly misdiagnosed, that’s not actually the case – it happens a lot more often than they think!

Cancer misdiagnosis can result from the following:

• Misinterpretation of symptoms
• Failure to complete medical assessments correctly
• Disregard for other possible reasons for symptoms
• Taking incorrect readings from diagnostic results
• Not consulting with a more specialized physician
• Ordering the wrong diagnostic test

Seeking assistance from a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer is best advised if you’ve received a misdiagnosis. Before you do, however, there’s some important information you should be aware of so that you can know if you might have a chance of a fighting case.

What Should You Consider Before Seeing a Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyer?

While a lawyer won’t always be able to provide support for cancer misdiagnosis, there are many cases where they will. Understanding beforehand what some of the key factors are that allow you to have a case will help you decide whether hiring an attorney is the right move for you.

For you to have a lawsuit, there are several medical matters to take into account first. Here are some of the main ones that you should consider before filing your case:

• A specialized doctor must give evidence that medical malpractice has occurred
• The physician hasn’t followed the standard of care practices appropriately
• Compensation you might be able to receive
• The chance of winning is in your favor
• Who was at fault for you being wrongly diagnosed

As you can see, the case isn’t as simple as you being solely misdiagnosed. There are several factors involved in helping uncover if you’re a candidate for legal representation, your chance of a successful lawsuit, and the level of compensation you may receive.

Let’s look at each point in more detail.

Evidence of Medical Malpractice

For you to have a fighting case, medical malpractice needs to be proven.

A specialized doctor should declare that you’ve suffered harm that relates to your misdiagnosis and document any subsequent treatment you’ve received as a result.

Failure to Uphold the Standard of Care

Standard of care is the term used in medical practice that means that a patient has received the appropriate treatment for their disease or condition. If the trained medical staff fails to follow the standard of care practices correctly, legal action may be just.

Physicians and healthcare practitioners have a responsibility to their patients for receiving the right treatment and care that they deserve. When they breach this or it’s followed incorrectly due to mistakes, such as in the case of cancer misdiagnosis, the standard of care isn’t met.

Proof That You’ve Suffered Due to Misdiagnosis

Is there evidence that you’ve become injured or ill due to misdiagnosis? Then it’s time to seek help from a specialized lawyer. Here are some instances where compensation may be due:

• Having to face surgery that you didn’t need
• Your earnings dropped due to time off work
• Your condition has gotten worse due to receiving incorrect treatment

Documents and medical records can serve as proof that you’ve been maltreated. 

Compensation Entitlement

A cancer misdiagnosis lawyer can help to organize all documents and details relevant to your case appropriately. This helps to work out the level of compensation you may receive when fighting for your cancer misdiagnosis settlement.

Compensation is often limited, in some cases at least. For example, in Hawaii compensation as a result of medical negligence usually won’t exceed $375,000. This is important to know so that you have an idea of what you may be entitled to, depending on the severity of your case.

Your Chance of a Winning Case

If you have adequate proof of a misdiagnosis, then you may be on your way to a winning case. If you don’t, however, you may not have sufficient grounds to stand on and the case might not succeed at trial.

If you have the right documents in place, then you should consult with the best cancer misdiagnosis lawyer you can find. At Cummings Law, we’ve successfully helped our clients recover more than $29 million in the last few years.

The Person at Fault for Malpractice

Who was at fault for the malpractice is relevant to your case? This helps your attorney in structuring your case and filing it appropriately to charge the right person or department.

Whether it’s your doctor, the person who carried out your diagnosis, or someone who interpreted the results wrongly, we need to know this to present your case correctly. Again, your records will come in handy here.

Choose Your Trusted Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyer Right Here

Have you had a cancer misdiagnosis? Are you suffering any illness or harm as a result? Then it’s best to seek help from a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer.

With more than 20 years of experience dealing with medical malpractice, you’re in great hands with us. Call us today and book your consultation! We’re ready to help you get the compensation you deserve.

Cancer diagnoses are very serious and often come with a time constraint on when you can be treated. Discovering what you thought was a mild ailment by one doctor is actually cancer is heart-stopping and can leave you wondering what you should do next.

What steps can you take after you’ve been told you had a cancer misdiagnosis?

If you’ve been told that you have cancer that went unreported by a previous doctor, don’t worry; there are steps that you can take to get justice.

Failure to Diagnose: What Is It?

Failure to diagnose is a form of medical malpractice where your doctor does not perform all of the necessary tasks to properly discover the source of a patient’s illness. Medical malpractice is what happens when a health care professional neglects their patient in any form. This can happen with any form of illness, both serious and benign. 

A medical misdiagnosis is a form of medical malpractice, as it often means the doctor or nurse in charge of the patient didn’t examine their patient thoroughly enough. It can also mean that the diagnosis wasn’t given in a timely manner compared to the severity of the illness. In cancer cases, this can be detrimental to the patient involved.

Should the misdiagnosed illness cause harm to the patient, there may be cause for legal action.  For cancer patients, this could mean that your cancer has either grown significantly or spread to other organs.

Common Causes of Misdiagnosis

The causes of a cancer misdiagnosis can vary, but it is often due to an error during the screening process. People who are at risk for cancer are often screened regularly to check for any abnormalities. Whether the doctor wasn’t paying close enough attention to the machine’s readings or the machine encountered an error, cancer can be read as another illness or be missed altogether.

Cancer can also be difficult to detect on its own. Due to the many types of cancer that exist, as well as the varying levels of severity and speed of the cancer, the scan may not show anything at all. In these cases, doctors can only go off of the symptoms that are experienced rather than screening results.

Some cancers also present similarly to cysts and other benign skin abnormalities. It can be hard to tell the difference between cancer cells and fat cells, which makes distinguishing the two a challenge. For this reason, breast cancer misdiagnosis and other similar misdiagnosis occur.

What to Do After a Cancer Misdiagnosis

If you have become the victim of a cancer misdiagnosis, there are ways that you can proceed. Here are some tips for hiring professionals to help you.

How to Make a Lawsuit Against Your Doctor

If you’ve experienced unnecessary harm from a cancer misdiagnosis, or if your cancer has spread or grown when it could have been cared for, you may be able to take legal action against your provider. Of course, not every instance of a misdiagnosis can qualify you for compensation; you’ll want to talk with a lawyer about your experiences first to figure out if your case is liable. They will also tell you about the average settlement for cancer diagnosis in your particular circumstance so that you know whether or not to proceed with a suit.

Certain instances of misdiagnosis will be held at a different level than others. For example, someone afflicted with a type of cancer that should be easy to detect will be easier to hold up in court than a type of cancer that is harder to find. 

In order to file a claim, you will need to have substantial evidence of malpractice or negligence. You will also have to decide if you want to sue your practitioner directly or the hospital as a whole. Your lawyer will be able to help with this decision and make the process easier. 

A few examples of evidence that you’ll need to file your claim include: 

• Your medical records
• Doctor’s notes from any doctors who have worked with you on the matter
• Witness statements
• Photographic or video evidence of malpractice
• Emails, letters, or any other correspondence you’ve had between you and your practitioners

If your doctor showed themselves negligent in any manner, then you may be able to receive compensation. Examples of negligence include them failing to ask specific questions, them forgetting or failing to send in items for testing, gave false information about your illness or gave it a fake name, or performed tests that no other doctor would have done for ethical reasons.

Issues You May Experience

You may find it difficult to accurately prove negligence on the part of the practitioner or hospital. This is because it can be hard to prove whether or not the harm you’ve experienced was a direct result of the cancer or another illness.

Some mistakes will not qualify as medical malpractice. If it is ruled that the mistake you’ve experienced is one that any doctor would or could make, then it does not qualify as medical malpractice. If your doctor is doing their best to cure your particular symptoms, even if they are misdiagnosing you, then they are unlikely to be proven as negligent.

You’ll want to have in-depth conversations with your lawyer about your case and any potential defenses that your provider or hospital may have against your claim. Your lawyer will be able to provide you with any help you need and get more evidence to support your claim. 

Move Forward With Confidence

Getting a cancer misdiagnosis is terrifying, but there are ways that you can help yourself move forward. Remember to always employ a lawyer when handling a case of medical malpractice to get the most out of your claim. 

Do you need help filing a medical malpractice suit against your provider or hospital?

We’re here to help. Contact our agency for any questions regarding your lawsuit for peace of mind today.