Late diagnosis of breast cancer. Is this medical negligence?

Delayed diagnosis of cancer is a very serious issue and a life-threatening concern. Regular checkups are a requisite for finding cancer in it's early stages and beating it through surgery before it is allowed to spread. If a doctor is given ample time and opportunity to diagnose cancer and fails to do so, he or she may be held liable for medical negligence and sued for medical malpractice.

In order to have a valid medical malpractice claim, it must be shown that your doctors failure to diagnose your cancer was caused by a deviation from the accepted medical standard of care. If a doctor is found to have deviated from this standard, the he or she is said to be negligent. If medical negligence leads to an undue injury to the patient, then the doctor is liable for all damages and subject to a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Proving medical negligence in this case will require a third party medical doctor to go over your records with regards to your previous visits to determine if the appropriate measures were taken by the doctor to catch your cancer before it was allowed to spread.

Many medical malpractice law firms have a medical doctor on staff or nearby for this exact reason. Consulting with a medical malpractice lawyer offers you a chance to get legal advice as well as get some medical expert opinion regarding the performance of your doctor and his liability for your injury.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is the extraordinary expense of filing and prosecuting a medical malpractice lawsuit. Unless there are significant damages for which to seek compensation, it may not be worth the cost of pursuing the lawsuit.

In order to find out the legal and economical merits of filing your claim, talk to a medical malpractice lawyer. Most medical malpractice lawyers will offer you a free consultation so that you can get the answers and legal advice that you need to make the best decision.