Being told you have cancer is a stressful and devastating health event, but finding out that your physician made an error or delayed the diagnosis can be even more shocking. A cancer misdiagnosis can have profound consequences for a patient because early detection is essential for successful treatment. Mistakes can cause patients to lose precious time, undergo invasive surgery, or suffer permanent bodily harm. Many may even succumb to cancer when it becomes terminal due to delayed or no treatment.
If you or a loved one suffered because of a diagnostic error, consider discussing your circumstances with a Florida cancer misdiagnosis lawyer from our personal injury law firm when you call 888 677 7764. You can also read on for some important information.
Types of Negligence that Cause Cancer Misdiagnosis
Cancer diagnoses often come up because of a regular physical exam, lab screening, or based on symptoms that you experience. However, your healthcare provider may overlook or make critical errors in detecting cancer, such as:
- Failure to conduct a comprehensive physical exam
- Neglect in following up on suspicious masses or lesions
- Not communicating with you regarding a potential cancer diagnosis
- Overlooking early onset or symptoms
- Failure to recommend cancer screening based on known risk factors
- Neglect in thoroughly reviewing your medical history
- Improper reading and reviewing of lab tests, cancer screenings, or radiology imaging
- Not communicating with other physicians, treating doctors, and other healthcare providers
- Failure to offer proper referrals
Any of these oversights or errors can lead providers to miss the signs that you have cancer, make an incorrect diagnosis, or make a diagnosis long after you should have started treatment.
Early Diagnosis of Cancer Is Critical
Though the specifics may vary, there are certain forms of cancer that must be treated as soon as possible. Some types of cancer are quite receptive to early treatment, so a patient could expect a full recovery.
The time lag between detection and launching a course of treatment is especially critical with the following types of cancers:
- Breast cancer, particularly invasive ductal carcinoma
- Cervical, ovarian, or uterine cancers
- Colorectal cancer
- Prostate cancer and testicular cancers
- Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
- Kidney and renal cancers
Cancer Misdiagnosis Harms Patients
When doctors misdiagnose or mistreat cancer, patients and their families suffer. A cancer misdiagnosis can delay medical care to the point that the disease progresses to advanced or fatal stages, resulting in potentially avoidable expenses, suffering, and even death. A false or incorrect diagnosis may also cause a patient to undergo painful and invasive treatments or surgical procedures they do not need.
How Common Are Diagnostic Injuries?
Unfortunately, a cancer misdiagnosis may happen more often than you think. A 2022 report from Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates that over 100,000 Americans die or suffer a permanently disabling injury annually due to misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a medical condition. Nearly 40 percent of these injuries and fatalities are because of a cancer misdiagnosis. Other commonly misdiagnosed conditions include vascular events and infections. A Fort Myers cancer misdiagnosis lawyer can explain how settlement offers are weighed against the full cost of treatment and lost income. A related concern is overdiagnosis in malpractice cases, where a patient is treated for a condition that would never have caused harm.
Cancer Malpractice Victims Can Seek Compensation for Their Damages and Suffering
You can pursue economic justice if you or your loved one suffered due to medical malpractice. In general, compensation for cancer misdiagnosis may include the following economic and non-economic damages:
- Past medical bills related to your cancer misdiagnosis or for treatment you received in error
- Current and ongoing medical expenses, including diagnostic tests, medical procedures, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, hospital and doctor fees, medications, medical devices and equipment, and nursing services
- Lost wages, earnings, and employment benefits, including loss of your future earning capacity if your injury or illness prevents you from returning to your previous job or forces you to permanently leave the workforce
- Physical pain and suffering, including scarring, disfigurement, loss of limb or bodily function, loss of mobility, and severe and chronic pain
- Emotional distress and mental anguish, including stress, depression, anxiety, reduced quality of life, and loss of enjoyment
- Lost Services of a Loved One, including household services performed by a loved one or business services for a family business, which they are unable to perform because of the misdiagnosis.
You Can Seek Justice for Fatal Cancer Misdiagnosis
If your loved one died from terminal cancer that could have been treated with a proper diagnosis or suffered a fatal cancer malpractice injury, your family may seek damages with a wrongful death lawsuit. How a cancer misdiagnosis payout is calculated depends on the stage at diagnosis and the cost of care. Your family member’s personal representative (executor) can take legal action on behalf of their estate and its beneficiaries. Compensation may include the following:
- Medical care
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Loss of your loved one’s income and future financial support
- Loss of your loved one’s services, care, companionship, and guidance
- Survivors’ mental pain and suffering
Liability for Cancer Misdiagnosis Injuries
Financial responsibility for your damages will depend on who or what caused your misdiagnosis. Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may have a claim against a doctor, a nurse, or a negligent hospital or laboratory.
To win compensation, you will need to prove that your suffering and damages resulted from medical negligence. A solid malpractice case is based on the following four elements:
- Professional duty of care. A professional duty of care exists whenever there is an official doctor/patient relationship. This duty is a physician’s or nurse’s legal obligation to provide medical treatment according to the accepted standards of the healthcare community.
- Breach of duty. A healthcare provider breaches the duty of care when they fail to treat patients in a manner that most other doctors or nurses in their position would deem reasonable. A breach of duty can also be a failure to act, such as a failure to diagnose and treat cancer or another medical condition.
- Causation. You must show that the liable physician’s breach of duty caused your injury. Proof in a medical malpractice case may include medical records, eyewitness statements, testimony from medical experts, and medical and scientific research.
- Damages. Damages establish that your injury led to tangible and intangible losses. Proof of damages may include receipts, invoices, bills, estimates regarding your future losses, and evidence and testimony demonstrating your pain and suffering.
You do not have unlimited time to build your case. According to Florida Statutes § 95.11 (4)(c), you generally have two years from the date of your injury or its discovery to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. There are circumstances that could extend this deadline, but if the statute of limitations expires, the court will likely refuse your suit.
You can attempt to negotiate a fair medical malpractice insurance settlement without going to court. However, if you wait too long and lose your legal leverage, you may end up with a denied claim or lowball settlement offer. Get started as soon as possible by contacting our firm.
What To Do If You Have a Cancer Misdiagnosis Injury
There are several things you should do if you have suffered physically and financially from a cancer misdiagnosis or suspect you may have a cancer malpractice claim:
- Seek medical treatment immediately from a healthcare provider not connected to your cancer misdiagnosis.
- Follow your new physician’s orders, do not miss appointments or treatments, and maintain records of your medical care.
- If an insurance agent contacts you, do not discuss your injury or illness, medical treatment, or any other details of your claim.
- Do not accept an insurance adjuster’s initial settlement. The first offer is often a lowball payment.
- Consider consulting with a legal expert and hiring representation.
Do You Need a Cancer Malpractice Attorney?
Florida’s medical malpractice laws are complex and full of potential pitfalls. Working with an experienced cancer misdiagnosis attorney from our law firm may help you avoid common mistakes that could jeopardize your case. It also provides you with an advocate who can protect your rights and fight for your best interests. Our legal team will:
- Investigate your case and collect evidence
- Hire and consult with medical experts
- Prove your cancer misdiagnosis resulted from medical negligence
- Identify liable parties
- Calculate your current losses and obtain estimates for your long-term medical treatment and other ongoing expenses
- Draft and file your medical malpractice insurance claim or lawsuit
- Communicate with involved parties on your behalf
- Handle settlement negotiations and aggressively pursue the maximum compensation possible
- Prepare your case for civil court and advocate for you at trial if necessary
- Listen to you, respond to your needs, and provide you with individualized legal services
How Florida Health Care Providers Defend Failure To Diagnose Cancer Claims
Early diagnosis and intervention play a critical role in driving trends in cancer fatalities – and in boosting outcomes for individual patients. Diagnostic errors are preventable, though a negligent health care provider will contest any wrongdoing. As such, it is crucial to consult with a Florida medical malpractice lawyer about a failure to diagnose cancer and defenses physicians use to avoid liability.
“It was already there.” This assertion is true for just about any cancer, which will likely be present and growing even at minuscule rates. The goal of your physician should be getting as close to detection at Stage 0 as possible, at which point the cancer remains where it started and has not spread to other tissues. Diagnosis at Stage 1, where the cancer is small and localized, is also linked to positive outcomes. Being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, followed by an allegation that the cancer was “already there,” indicates a physician dropped the ball.
“Earlier detection would not have impacted survival.” Not all forms of the disease are treatable regardless of cancer staging. Therefore, health care providers often defend allegations on the grounds that the patient would have died despite prompt diagnosis and intervention. This assumption overlooks an important factor in a medical malpractice claim: The patient outcome, which is not as clear-cut as death versus becoming cancer-free. An early detection might have enabled the patient to enjoy some quality of life.
“The cancer growth models do not support a diagnosis error.” Cancer growth models measure the expansion of a tumor or cancerous cells, enabling oncologists to work backward from diagnosis to inception date. With this information, the defense could be that the growth model shows development of cancer before the physician’s alleged negligence. However, there are numerous flaws with these models that prevent an accurate assessment of when the cancer started.
“Cancer went undetected because of other parties.” A physician might also attempt to shift blame to avoid liability, such as lab techs, radiologists, pathologists, and others who had a hand in tests, imaging, biopsies, and related diagnostic tools.
How a False Diagnosis of Cancer Occurs
There are various factors behind mistakes in diagnosing cancer, but the two most common root causes of many errors are:
1. Screening Equipment: Advancements in medical technology have enabled screening tests that are far more sensitive than ever. While the equipment does detect even the tiniest traces of cancer early, it may also return positive results that don’t involve affected cells. Plus, the likelihood of a false positive reading increases with additional screenings. According to the Susan G. Komen Foundation:
- A woman’s chances of a false positive result for breast cancer are as high as 12 percent for a first mammogram
- After a woman has 10 annual mammograms, the likelihood of a false positive is around 50-60 percent
Of course, it’s up to a physician to order follow-up tests when a first cancer screening returns a positive result. Moving ahead with treatment right away may be a misdiagnosis mistake.
2. Human Error: When you undergo a cancer screening, your test results go to a specialist for interpretation. Radiologists read X-ray and CT scans, while pathologists study biopsies and other biological samples for cancerous material. These health care providers must be properly trained and have extensive experience in identifying the presence of cancer; even when they do have the requisite knowledge, they can still make mistakes in diagnosing.
Harm Caused by a False Diagnosis of Cancer
The primary harm in a false positive diagnosis of cancer occurs when a physician rushes the patient into starting treatment right away. Many strategies for fighting cancer are massively damaging to healthy cells, including:
- Chemotherapy, which can lead to hair loss and intense flu-like symptoms
- Radiation, a treatment that’s linked to an increased chance of developing a second cancer
- Surgery, which is very invasive and carries a high risk of infection
Talk to a Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyer About Cancer Misdiagnosis
Mistakes in providing medical care, including delayed diagnosis and diagnosis errors, fall under the legal concept of medical malpractice. Florida law provides you with rights, so you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. However, getting the money you need can often be challenging. Our law firm has a proven track record of success, with case results that include more than 20 medical malpractice verdicts of $1 million or more.
The knowledgeable cancer misdiagnosis lawyers at Freidin Brown, P.A. can tell you more about your legal options, so please contact us to discuss your situation. We can set up a free and confidential consultation at our offices in Miami or Fort Myers to review your claim and determine an appropriate legal strategy. We take cases on a contingency basis, meaning we charge no upfront costs or fees for our services.
Call us or complete our online request form to get started today.
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