Medical Negligence and Breast Cancer

Many women face and will face a tough battle with breast cancer over the course of their lifetime. Current figures estimate the number of new breast cancer diagnoses to be almost 45,000 annually. Despite this gloomy statistic, more and more women are detecting the disease early enough to fight it. Over the past few years, the death rate caused by breast cancer has actually declined. However, in some situation, early detection was incorrectly overlooked by a physician. Therefore, the chance of a positive recovery dwindled or in some situations was no longer possible.

Typically, detection of breast cancer involves the patient having a lump somewhere within the breast. Medical protocol would then call for testing to determine whether or not the lump is cancerous as often time they may not be. Either a mammogram or biopsy would be called for. Some physicians would refer their patients to a specialist. Another potential sign of cancer could involve unusual discharge from the breast nipple. Again, further testing should be called for. The negligence occurs when these signs are present but the physician does not follow the path of gathering more information. They might minimize the potential severity of the problem and delay further testing. However, if the patient does indeed have breast cancer, this delay can be a killer. On the other hand, a positive diagnosis of breast cancer could be made in error when in fact the patient does not have breast cancer at all. These misdiagnoses could lead to invasive and expensive surgeries that were never even needed.

The case for medical or clinical negligence comes in to play when the physician either misdiagnosed the disorder or delayed providing a diagnosis. To have a successful medical negligence claim, the patient has to prove that the care they received fell below the accept standard of care. A misdiagnosis or waiting to make the diagnosis by delaying testing would in fact satisfy this principle.

Evidence can be gathered through expert testimony and test results. Again, it is imperative that you file your intentions to make a compensation claim sooner than later. Often there are time limits that must be met when filing a claim so speak to a proffesional clinical negligence solicitor today.