The Alarming Prevalence of Cancer Misdiagnosis

How often is cancer misdiagnosed? The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of cancer diagnosis errors. Its scope focused on the big three medical conditions that cause the greatest harm when misdiagnosed: major vascular events, infections, and cancers.

The study results were that cancer is misdiagnosed over 11% of the time. In addition, over 6% of patients suffer a degree of serious harm from a misdiagnosis of cancer. Different types of cancers have different error rates. Some misdiagnosis rates reported by the SIDM study include:

• Lung cancer – 22.5%
• Melanoma – 13.6%
• Colorectal cancer – 9.6%
• Breast cancer – 8.9%
• Prostate cancer – 2.4%

How Can Cancer Be Misdiagnosed?

There are two types of cancer misdiagnoses, false positives and missed diagnoses.

• False Positives – A false-positive cancer diagnosis means that a patient is diagnosed with a cancer they do not have. This can be the result of misreading x-rays, laboratory mix-ups, testing errors, and similar types of problems. If you’re misdiagnosed as having cancer, you might be subject to unnecessary radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery, resulting in long-term health issues such as organ damage and infections.
• Missed Diagnoses – A missed or delayed cancer diagnosis is when a medical professional assesses the cancer as something else. This can be the result of misinterpreting diagnostic imaging or misjudging symptoms. For patients whose cancers are not diagnosed until they are well advanced, or not diagnosed at all, survival rates are usually lower, and they must often endure more aggressive and invasive treatment.

Is a cancer misdiagnosis or failure to properly diagnose medical malpractice?

Proving Medical Malpractice in Florida

In certain situations, a cancer misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose by a healthcare professional can be considered medical malpractice. If you believe you were a victim of this type of medical malpractice in Florida, you must prove:

1. There was a doctor-patient relationship such that the doctor owed the patient a duty of care.
2. The duty of care was breached.
3. The breach was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.
4. The injuries are compensable.

To prove that there existed a doctor-patient relationship, you must show that the medical professional was responsible for your diagnosis and treatment.

To demonstrate that the duty of care was breached, you must prove that the doctor or other medical professional did not meet the standard of care that a competent doctor would have met in similar circumstances.

In cancer misdiagnosis cases, examples of failing to meet this standard may include:

• Misreading imaging, such as mammograms or CT scans.
• Failing to order necessary tests.
• Ignoring or dismissing symptoms that might reasonably indicate cancer.
• Communication failures between medical providers.

To prove the third element, it is not enough to show that an error happened. You need to prove that the medical professional’s failure to properly diagnose your cancer caused you injuries/physical pain or caused your ability to survive the cancer to be less than a 50% chance of survival.

The fourth element to prove must be that the above suffering was compensable and there is the possibility of awarding you damages. In Florida, damages fall under the following categories:

• Economic damages: medical costs and expenses, future care, lost wages, and similar out-of-pocket expenses.
• Noneconomic damages: emotional distress, worsened cancer outcomes and loss of consortium

In certain egregious situations, your attorney may seek punitive damages, but those are very rare.

Having your medical situation reviewed by an Orlando medical malpractice lawyer or Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm will help find out if you can legally prove each of these elements.

Contact Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm

Do not wait to speak with a medical malpractice attorney! Florida has a two-year statute of limitations and gathering information and evidence is part of that timeframe and very often a time-consuming process.

If you or a loved one has suffered from a delayed diagnosis of cancer or a cancer misdiagnosis, contact us without delay at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm. Our firm is consistently known to provide an unparalleled level of care and attention. We will fight for you!