Failure to Diagnose Cancer

Failure to diagnose is a type of medical malpractice – one that could be devastating to your life and your friends and family’s. The failure to diagnose a serious, time-sensitive disease such as cancer often warrants exploring a medical malpractice action. If you believe you are the victim of a negligent failure to diagnose cancer, contact the New York lawyers at Fiedler Deutsch, LLP for a free consultation. We are here to help you through this process.

Why Choose Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers?

• Our results speak for themselves. We have collected millions for clients, including over a million dollars in Kings County for wrongful death caused by the failure to diagnose lung cancer.
• Our attorneys will bring more than 50 years of combined experience in medical malpractice law to your case.
• Our lawyers prioritize the client-attorney relationship. Partners Duane and Adam handle cases directly rather than handing them off to junior staffers or paralegals.

Do You Have a Claim?

Failure to diagnose cancer is a common reason for misdiagnosis lawsuits in New York State.

A failure to diagnose cancer occurs when a healthcare professional does not identify cancer despite the presence of symptoms, risk factors, or abnormal test results that should prompt further investigation. It is a grave form of medical malpractice that can have life-altering consequences for patients. 

Failure to diagnose is a legal term that describes a health care professional negligently failing to identify cancer in a patient. It means that a reasonable and prudent physician would have successfully diagnosed the patient’s cancer through a proper analysis of symptoms and test results. If you are a victim of failure to diagnose cancer, you or your lawyer will need to establish four main elements for a valid medical malpractice claim:

1. Patient-doctor relationship with a duty of care owed
2. Breach of the professional duty of care by the negligent failure to diagnose
3. Causation for your injuries or losses
4. Compensable damages suffered from the breach of duty

Failure to diagnose cancer could be medical malpractice if a reasonable and prudent doctor would have been able to promptly and correctly diagnose the condition under the same or similar circumstances. Your lawyer will need to show that your damages are connected to the doctor’s malpractice. If your cancer is terminal, for instance, and a timely diagnosis would not have changed your prognosis, you may not be eligible for compensation. Our attorneys at Fiedler Deutsch, LLP can review your case for free to let you know if you have the necessary elements for a claim.

Common Reasons for Failure to Diagnose Cancer

This oversight can happen at various stages of medical care, including during routine check-ups, specialist consultations, or emergency room visits. Common reasons include:

• Misinterpretation of Diagnostic Tests: Radiologists or pathologists may misread imaging scans, biopsy results, or lab tests, leading to incorrect conclusions about a patient’s condition.
• Ignoring Patient Complaints: Healthcare providers may dismiss or downplay patient-reported symptoms, attributing them to less serious conditions without thorough investigation.
• Failure to Order Appropriate Tests: Doctors may fail to order the necessary diagnostic tests based on a patient’s symptoms, family history, or risk factors.
• Poor Communication: Breakdown in communication between healthcare providers can result in missed or delayed diagnoses. This often happens when specialists do not adequately communicate findings to the referring physician.
• Bias and Assumptions: Providers may make assumptions based on a patient’s age, gender, or general health, causing them to overlook potential signs of cancer.

Consequences of a Delayed Diagnosis

Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth. At an early-stage, cancer is typically localized and can often be treated more effectively, resulting in higher survival rates. A broader range of treatment options are also typically available, including less invasive procedures and therapies. Conversely, late-stage cancers are more likely to have spread to other parts of the body (metastasized), making treatment more complex and less effective. Additionally, the patient may require more intensive treatments, such as aggressive chemotherapy, radiation, and extensive surgeries, which can have significant side effects and lower the overall quality of life. In severe cases, the failure to diagnose cancer can mean an increased risk of mortality.

The emotional and psychological impact on patients and their families is also profound. They may experience feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness, knowing that earlier detection could have potentially altered the course of the disease. The financial burden of advanced cancer treatments and the associated loss of income due to illness can further exacerbate the situation.

Legal Options for Affected Patients

Patients who suffer due to a physician’s failure to diagnose cancer have the right to pursue a medical malpractice claim for compensation. To do so successfully requires establishing several key elements:

Duty of Care

The healthcare provider had a duty to provide a standard level of care to the patient.

Breach of Duty

The provider breached this duty by failing to act according to the standard of care, such as by misinterpreting tests or ignoring symptoms.

Causation

The breach directly caused harm to the patient. This means showing that the delayed diagnosis led to the progression of the cancer and worsened the patient’s condition.

Damages

The patient suffered actual damages as a result of the delay. This can include physical pain, emotional suffering, increased medical costs, and loss of income.

Compensation Available to New York Medical Malpractice Victims

Patients with injuries or harm due to the failure to diagnose cancer may be able to recover compensation in New York through misdiagnosis lawsuits. If a misinterpreted blood test or radiology study led to the failure to diagnose a cancerous tumor and a lack of treatment, for example, you will have the right to pursue compensation from the at-fault party through a medical malpractice lawsuit in New York.

The party liable for your damages could be the physician guilty of malpractice, the professional in charge of interpreting test results or the hospital itself for the mistakes of its staff members. From the lawsuit, you could receive compensation for any complications, additional surgeries or treatments, pain and suffering damages, lost quality of life, lost earnings, and medical bills related to the failure to diagnose cancer.

Contact Our Medical Malpractice Attorneys Today

If you or your loved one’s physician negligently failed to diagnose any type of cancer, contact us to find out if you have grounds for a lawsuit. If your doctor breached the expected level of patient care for the medical industry in his or her failure to diagnose, that physician or hospital may owe you compensation. Contact us online or call (914) 993-0393 for a free consultation with our Westchester County medical malpractice attorneys today. We are here to help you through this difficult time.