Lawsuit for Cancer Misdiagnosis: Elements Necessary

Many legal actions sue for cancer misdiagnosis which has resulted in injury occuring due to negligent physician evaluation of the symptoms of a life threatening disease, some would readily say too many.  Physicians make mistakes that severely harm patients often and with utter impunity if steps are not taken to protect the patient rights. 

Typically, in order to sue for cancer misdiagnosis there must have been (1) a diagnosis designating some disease or condition other than cancer as the cause of the patient’s malady and (2) evidence pointing to cancer as the true life threatening condition which untreated and undiagnosed caused injury to the patient. 

Possible Patient Damages

A misdiagnosis involving cancer can lead to devastating, disfiguring and life threatening results up to and including a wrongful death.  There are even instances, conversely, where patients are misdiagnosed as having a cancer and it is later determined, after something as important as a breast or a lung has already been removed, that it was never in fact cancer causing the condition at all.  

Elements of Malpractice Action

All medical malpractice claims require essentially the same basic elements for actionable causation to exist. 

• A duty of care was owed the patient by the diagnosing physician  
• That duty of care was breached by physician failure to conform to the relevant standard of medical care.
• The breach of the standard of care must be shown by expert testimony, or in the case of obvious errors such as cases involving res ipsa loquitur, the negligent act by the physician speaks for itself without more.
• The breach of duty caused either a direct injury or was the proximate cause of an injury to the patient.
• Damages

Getting Legal Help

An attorney can accurately review the circumstances of the medical treatment received and determine if there is an entitlement to compensation by timely recourse to the judicial system.