Cancer: Missed Or Failure To Timely Diagnose Cancer And Other Illnesses

If you or a loved one has ever received a diagnosis of cancer, you know that it is a life-altering event. In today’s world of modern medicine, timely diagnosis of many cancers means treatment is likely to be more effective and less expensive. While the spread of cancer is not always preventable, early detection and intervention may lower your risk for developing metastasis.  

Sadly, these delays in diagnosis can result in more invasive treatment, extended physical and emotional heartache, and even death. Most cancers are either graded or staged in terms of their severity. The lower the grade or stage (i.e., the earlier the diagnosis), the better the likelihood of a successful outcome.  Conversely, the higher the grade or stage, or the more abnormal the cells look, the more aggressive the cancer is and the less likely there will be a successful outcome. Importantly, a delay in diagnosis (even by a few weeks) can increase the likelihood that the tumor will metastasize (spread) to other nearby organs and anatomy, thereby significantly decreasing a person’s chances of survival. 

In Maryland, failure to diagnose cancer cases can only be pursued if the negligence caused the patient’s cancer to progress from a stage in which the patient had a probability of surviving the cancer if they received proper treatment to a circumstance in which they now face a probability of death due to the growth/spread of the cancer inside the body.  

A plaintiff must prove there was a breach of duty (not ordering tests, misreading results, inadequate follow-up) that caused injury beyond what the normal diagnosis would have caused. Barton v. Advanced Radiology P.A., 248 Md. App. 512   

As experienced medical malpractice attorneys, we have successfully settled or received favorable trial verdicts arising out of physicians’ failure to timely diagnose and treat cancer and other illnesses. Some of the more common types of cancer misdiagnoses that we have handled include brain tumors, breast cancer, lung cancer, bone cancer, cartilaginous tumors, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, cervical cancer, esophageal cancer, nasal cavity cancer, colon cancer, and rectal cancer. Determining whether a physician negligently failed to timely diagnose cancer requires a detailed analysis of a patient’s medical records and the assistance of trained medical experts.  

Our office not only has the resources to conduct this detailed investigation and retain world–class experts, but also has the expertise to present and explain a complicated case to a jury. Together with our medical experts, we investigate whether the physicians failed to properly interpret diagnostic tests, failed or delayed in ordering the proper diagnostic tests, rendered an incorrect diagnosis of a patient’s symptoms, missed tell–tale signs of an illness or disease process, failed to refer the patient to a specialist in the field, or erred in pathological, radiological or laboratory testing. 

Those who have been victimized by a physician’s failure to timely diagnose cancer or another illness face a host of medical, economic, physical, emotional, and psychological issues. Sadly, in many instances, a missed or untimely diagnosis (even by just a month) may result in a patient receiving the most tragic of prognoses.  

If you or a loved one believe that medical negligence has resulted in the spread of your cancer or other disease process, causing you to need unnecessary treatment, or decreased your chances of surviving your cancer or disease process, please contact Andrew G. Slutkin and Ethan S. Nochumowitz for a free consultation at 800-385-2243. 

Disclaimer: This page is informative in nature. The information contained herein is not to be considered legal advice and there is no attorney-client relationship formed between Silverman Thompson and the reader. 

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“For some common cancer types, such as cervical, colorectal, lung, and breast cancer, clinical trials have shown that screening does save lives. However, the amount of benefit is largely misunderstood. For mammography in women aged 50 to 59, for example, more than 1,300 women need to be screened to save one life. Such calculations also do not take into account the potential harms of screening, such as unnecessary and invasive follow-up screening tests or anxiety caused by false-positive results.” Source: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/screening/research/what-screening-statistics-mean