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Is an erroneous cancer diagnosis medical malpractice?

| Sep 5, 2021 | Medical Malpractice

You don’t feel well, so you go to a doctor in Ohio. The diagnosis comes back grim – the physician you saw tells you that you have cancer. You are reeling from denial and fear. Your mind is racing from one scary possibility to another, such as surgery, chemotherapy and perhaps a reduced life span. You can’t even begin to imagine conveying this unsettling information to your family.

That scenario happens all the time. But what if, for a variety of reasons, the diagnosis you received was not correct? According to the National Law Review, “a shocking number of Americans” are informed that they have cancer when they actually do not. As a result, they undergo “a great deal of suffering.”

Getting an erroneous cancer diagnosis is not at all rare. In fact, it occurs with astonishing frequency. Citing American Cancer Society statistics, the National Law Review states that “Research shows that certain kinds of cancer are misdiagnosed at rates as high as 61 percent.”

Explanations for false results indicating cancer 

There are a few possible reasons cancer misdiagnoses occur, including:

  • Pathologists who do not specialize in recognizing certain kinds of cancers might draw the wrong conclusions from a person’s tests.
  • In exceedingly rare instances, physicians may conclude a person has cancer who does not to obtain a larger payout from the patient’s health insurance company. If a patient gets cancer treatment without needing it, medical malpractice could be invoked.

Consequences of a mistaken cancer diagnosis

Cancer treatments can have powerful implications for your whole body, including non-cancerous cells. There can be major impacts that affect your health and wellbeing now and in the future. You may have undergone treatments for nothing and suffered severe or permanent physical damage.

What recourse do you have in your cancer misdiagnosis case?

Restoring your health and peace of mind are probably your foremost goals. You may also want to find out if you have the basis for a claim based on what you endured.

 

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