Claiming Compensation for Failure to diagnose Breast cancer / misdiagnosis of Breast cancer
Cancer services are vastly improved across Britain compared with 20 years ago, but occasionally misdiagnosis of cancer does happen. If you have suffered as a result of misdiagnosis of cancer, or failure to diagnose cancer, and someone has been negligent, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
Breast cancer
This is the most common type of cancer found in women, mostly over 50, but much younger women are also affected which is sadly where a number of cases of misdiagnosis can occur.
The breast is one type of cancer which responds well to early treatment, so early diagnosis gives a much better chance of survival.
Negligence claims often centre on delayed diagnosis as
a result of failing to carry out examinations, failure to offer the patient a biopsy or the analysis of the test results being incorrectly interpreted, and lumps in the breast being misdiagnosed as being benign. Failure to carry out the correct procedures can lead to treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy being less effective or ineffective altogether and the patient having to undergo a mastectomy.
In other cases the opposite may be true and the patient could be diagnosed with breast cancer incorrectly. This can lead to them having to undergo unnecessary treatments such as chemotherapy or unnecessary mastectomy surgery, which in turn can cause psychological problems for the patient.
Cancer is one of the most common serious illnesses in the UK with statistics showing that one in three of us will develop some form of it during our lifetime.
The problem can be where you suffer from cancer but you are given a negative result following tests, or the medical team treating you fails to make a diagnosis at all. In this scenario, failure to diagnose can mean that the cancer is allowed to grow untreated. The opportunity to treat the cancer can be lost completely, leading to additional pain and suffering and possibly to a reduced life expectancy or death.
Medical negligence claims involving cancer often involve one of the following factors:
- Failure to diagnose – this can be due to your doctor either missing or misinterpreting your symptoms, or misinterpreting test results
- Delay in diagnosis – this can be caused by delayed referrals to specialists, delays in carrying out a biopsy or failure to act quickly enough in reaction to test results, as well as many other factors
- Misdiagnosis – some patients are diagnosed as having cancer when they do not. This can lead to them having to endure difficult and painful treatments such as chemotherapy unnecessarily
A specialist solicitor can deal with medical negligence compensation claims for any type of cancer where your health care provider has been negligent.
How much can I claim?
A number of factors will determine the value of your settlement:
- The type of injury and how severe the injury is
- Did you recover fully from the injury or do you have ongoing problems
- What are the long term effects on your health
- Did the injury cause you other losses such as loss of earnings
What can I claim compensation for?
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of earnings
- The loss of comfort/convenience/quality of life caused by your injury
- Medical care costs
- Costs involved in adapting your home to meet your new requirements as a result of your injury
- Other out of pocket expenses incurred whilst receiving medical treatment, such as travel expenses
Making a claim for compensation
A specialist medical negligence solicitor can assess your case and inform you about:
- How strong your case is
- The likelyhood of making a successful claim
- The amount of compensation you may receive if your claim is successful
- Pursue a claim on your behalf