Failure To Diagnose Lung Cancer

Every 2.3 minutes, someone is diagnosed with lung cancer. That person’s life changes drastically after their diagnosis, shifting the way they make decisions and affecting their relationships. Early detection of cancer gives patients the chance to choose their treatment options and dramatically increases a person’s chances of successful treatment.

In fact, with lung cancer, 80 percent of patients will survive at least a year after diagnosis, compared to the 15 percent of those diagnosed in later stages. When a patient is diagnosed late, or not at all, it can not only affect that patient’s options in treatments, but it also affects their family. It can cause a family to lose their loved one or lose precious time with their loved one. That additional time is crucial for health, but also for preparing for the future and what it might entail. If that person is the main income source in their household, it can also cause financial strain and stress on the family.

Negligence by a Doctor or Medical Professional

There are many different reasons why cancer might not be diagnosed right away. A patient might not recognize the warning signs of cancer, they might be afraid of what the results would be if they went to a doctor, or there may be negligence on a medical professional’s end. Unfortunately, sometimes a late diagnosis is because of an oversight by a physician. Some of the common reasons a physician might fail to diagnose cancer in a reasonable period of time include:

• Failure to refer a patient to a specialist
• Failure to recognize the symptoms or signs of cancer
• Failure to order the correct tests to diagnose
• Misreading an x-ray
• Misreading test results
• Communicating incorrect results to patient
• Failure to communicate test results in a reasonable time manner

Receiving Compensation For Failure To Diagnose Lung Cancer

If a patient or a patient’s loved ones can show that a physician was negligent in diagnosing cancer for them, they may be eligible for compensation. In order to build a failure to diagnose case, you have to prove three things:

• Proof that a doctor and patient relationship was established at the time of the missed diagnosis
• The doctor, according to average and reasonable medical standards, should have been able to detect the cancer
• The patient was harmed due to the negligence

If these three pieces of proof are verifiable, the patient and their family may be able to receive compensation to cover undue medical expenses and for the pain and suffering caused by the missed diagnosis.

Contact Our Cancer Misdiagnosis Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If you or a loved one were harmed because of a doctor’s failure to diagnose lung cancer, contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Moraitakis & Kushel, LLP. With over 80 years of combined legal service, our attorneys are practiced at helping patients fight for compensation in medical malpractice cases. Call us at 404-973-0341 or fill out the online contact form to set up a time to talk about building a case today.