Kurzban Kurzban Tetzeli & Pratt | Attorneys At Law

Most delayed cancer diagnoses are due to errors in judgement

On Behalf of | Nov 18, 2019 | Medical Malpractice |

Your doctor has finally diagnosed you with cancer, which can be overwhelming. And you can feel downright frustrated when you’ve been seeking help for months, only to find out those in charge of your care have been heading in the wrong direction this whole time.

76% of missed cancer diagnoses are due to errors in clinical judgment, which can lead to additional testing, increased costs and worst of all, delayed treatment. Time is of the utmost importance when dealing with cancer, and a misdiagnosis can be devastating for many reasons. If your medical practitioner missed a diagnosis that they shouldn’t have, you might be able to prove medical malpractice.

Hard pill to swallow

Failure to live up to an acceptable standard can come in many forms:

  • Missing the marks: Evaluating blood cells, examining proteins and observing marking chemicals through tests can be a complicated process. But it’s one that is essential to providing adequate care.
  • Incorrect avenues: If your doctor acts one way, when any physician could be reasonably expected to act in a different way, that could lead to a delayed diagnosis. Failing to send you for crucial labs, or sending you to the wrong specialist after signs point in that direction could push your diagnosis back a detrimental amount.
  • Losing the thread: Physical or digital, it’s often imperative that hospitals keep track of every visit you make, test you undergo and physician you see. One missing step or incorrectly recorded result in the process could lead to a missed diagnosis.

Wasted time and money can be hard costs to endure, but you may be able to receive compensation to help shoulder some of the burden. The first step for building a case of medical malpractice is to understand just what constitutes a failure on the part of your caretakers.

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