Cancer Misdiagnosis

In past generations, a diagnosis of cancer often meant certain death before long. Today, thanks to dramatic advances in medical science over recent decades, positive outcomes are often very attainable. Discovering and treating cancer in a timely manner is the key to the best attainable outcome. Early diagnosis followed by aggressive, state-of-the-art treatments can lead to eradication of evidence of cancer from the body in many cases. Once a patient has been in remission for several years, he or she may declare victory.

Unfortunately, happy endings are not universal even when patients submit to timely checkups. Sometimes the cancer is just too far along when it is brought to the attention of a doctor. In other cases, the opportunity for early treatment is lost because of a misdiagnosis. A doctor or doctors may make a different diagnosis at first — or may claim that a patient is cancer-free based on lab reports.

Diagnostic lab reports are sometimes wrong. In other cases, they are correct, but the information never reaches the patient due to poor communications. The holdup may occur with the lab itself, with the medical clinic that employs the doctor, or with the doctor himself or herself. When a positive lab report falls through the cracks, the result is often a failure to diagnose the cancer. Misdiagnosis, in turn, may mean that once the diagnosis is finally brought to the attention of the patient, it is too late to obtain the best outcome.

Aside from the noneconomic loss of devastation in the face of a pending premature death, a cancer patient and his or her family often experience economic losses after a cancer misdiagnosis, including:

• Additional medical expenses
• Loss of income

Some patients, on the other hand, are given false positive reports and undergo unnecessary surgery. Learning that there is no cancer after all is of course a huge relief. However, costs associated with a cancer misdiagnosis can be great. The emotional roller coaster in such a case can be as difficult to bear as physical ramifications, such as loss of a healthy body part, or the financial losses associated with unneeded medical treatments.

An aggressive, effective medical malpractice attorney at Joel L. Katz, L.L.C., can represent you if you were harmed by a lung cancer, breast cancer or any cancer misdiagnosis in Annapolis or anywhere in the Eastern Shore area of Maryland. Call (800) 966-5333 toll free or send an email message to schedule a free consultation with a lawyer.