What makes a Cancer malpractice case?

    Generally speaking a malpractice case is possible when related to cancer when you are diagnosed with cancer AND your should have been diagnosed earlier, AND the earlier diagnosis would have made a difference in your treatment or chances of recovery.

Some types of cancer that we have seen while investigating  malpractice cases.

• Breast Cancer
• Colon Cancer
• Prostate Cancer
• Cervical Cancer
• Lung Cancer

Let me give you a couple of examples where a diagnosis was missed and it resulted in a claim.

Breast Cancer

In a breast cancer case a client underwent a routine exam looking for signs of breast cancer.  One thing that radiologists look for is change in the breast tissue.  In this case a spot on the mammogram from a previous test was different and significantly so.  This was not noted on the test results.  The result was a significant delay in finding the cancer.  It was not found until approximately a year later when the treatment options were limited to more drastic measures such as a mastectomy. 

Lung Cancer

A similar situation where a previous x-ray did not note a suspicious spot on the lung.  The re ult was that when it was finally discovered the cancer had progressed to the point where the client’s life was significantly shortened.

Conclusion

What is common in these cases is a missed opportunity to treat the disease.  It is that missed opportunity (that mistake) that results in a medical negligence case.  Not all cancer cases can be pursued as medical malpractice lawsuits.  One of the most important considerations (from a scientific standpoint) is how long ago was the misdiagnosis.  This is important because cancers grow a certain rates and there has to be a long enough time period for the mistake to have caused damage.  (Let me explain this statement)

If the mistake only caused a couple of days or weeks delay in diagnosing the cancer, then you probably cannot prove that the mistake made your situation worse.  That is important to know because in a typical malpractice case you have to prove that.

So you  need :

• A mistake (misdiagnosis or a failure to tell you that you have cancer)
• A delay in the time before you are told.
• Damages in so far as your treatment is more difficult or your chances of survival are lower because of the delay

Here’s an idea that is related to the car insurance industry’s practice of trying to reach claimant’s early before they get to a lawyer.  Id is called "early offer"

Here is a link to an NPR show covering the subject.  NPR

Here’s my take…If early offer is so good and so beneficial, then why are malpractice insurers not doing it now.  Go to the people that have been hurt by malpractice and say "I’m sorry" and tell them to get a lawyer and work it out.  I’ll believe it when I see it. 

Malpractice rights are under fire.  Studys show that increased malpractice rates are due to insurance companies needing to make money and not because of increased payouts.

So go ahead require early offers, but don’t take away the right to have a jury decide.

In response to a lawsuit the New Jersey State Division of Consumer Affairs has release medical; malpractice claim information covering March 1999 to March 2004.

You can read about the database and access the information a search for Medical Negligence claims at this link:  Medical malpractice database.