Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer - The Most Common Cancer Misdiagnosis

The failure to diagnose breast cancer remains a critical issue in medical practice today.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published some alarming statistics a few years ago regarding the prevalence of breast cancer. The centers stated that breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women (behind non-melanoma skin cancer) and that it is the number one cause of cancer death in Hispanic women. In total, 186,467 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in the year 2005. Of those women, 41,116 women died from the disease.

While there is no medical malpractice claim for simply developing the disease, a doctor's failing to diagnose a disease promptly can be a major issue. In addition to the female patient statistics, the study also showed that 1,764 men were diagnosed with the disease and 375 of them actually died from it. While breast cancer is only considered the eight most common fatal illness among women, it still remains one of the most well known and feared diagnoses.
It's important to note that just because a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer doesn't mean that her life is over. As the Mayo Clinic states, treatments do exist. The most commonly recommended treatments are surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy or a combination of more than one of these treatments. A doctor will discuss the options with the patient and together they will come to a mutual decision.
Before treatment can start a proper diagnosis must be given. The failure to diagnose breast cancer could result in death or critical injury-all tragedies that could possibly have been prevented.
The Mayo Clinic, one of the leading clinics in the nation with state-of-art art screening and diagnostic services, approaches diagnosis methodically using such tests as mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, MRI-guided breast biopsies and surgical biopsies. The clinic goes on to relate compassion for their patients, saying that they understand the amount of stress involved in this procedure but that prompt diagnosis is the best approach to overcoming this medical threat.

Where does medical malpractice come in?

Herein lays the responsibility of all doctors: to give any person with general symptoms indicating breast cancer a prompt and complete diagnosis. In fact, it is strongly suggested that all women (who are more likely to develop the disease) get a mammogram test once a year. Doctors also owe a similar responsibility to their male patients, particularly if the patients experience symptoms that are indicative of this disease.
When a doctor flagrantly disregards a patient's concern or remains ignorant of the possibility of breast cancer developing in his or her patient, and the patient suffers because of this negligence, then this could be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
There is no excuse for a doctor's failure to diagnose breast cancer, even if this medical professional tries to plead innocence. This is especially true in cases of female patients, since it is well known inside and outside the medical community that breast cancer is a significant risk for women of all ages and types. In fact, with all the money that has been put into breast cancer awareness organizations in recent years, it's hard to believe any doctor would be responsible for a failure to diagnose breast cancer in this day and age. But it happens.

Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyer

Any doctor doing his due diligence would aggressively pursue diagnosis at the first sign of suggestive symptoms, not to mention a yearly mammogram test. If you, or your family, have suffered a tragic loss because of a doctor's negligence in diagnosing breast cancer then give the Rasansky Law Firm a call. You need a tough and experienced Dallas cancer midiagnosis lawyer to guide your through the system and win you the compensation you deserve.