When Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose Cancer Has Tragic Consequences
Contact an Attorney at Rischmiller & Knippel LLP
When we entrust our well-being to our primary care physician or to specialists such as oncologists or internal medicine specialists, we rightly expect those doctors to exercise the accepted standard of care. We expect to receive correct, timely diagnoses of diseases and conditions such as cancer that a physician has the ability to deliver.
How shocking, then, when a patient learns that he or she has an advanced stage of cancer — despite previous complaints of symptoms which were disregarded during doctors' visits. "How can this be?" you may ask if this has happened to you. What about the lab tests? What about the detailed discussions with the doctor? Why was your cancer not diagnosed (or misdiagnosed) during an earlier stage when your chances of survival would have been much stronger?
Origins of the Misdiagnosis of Your Serious Illness
A close investigation of the chain of events may include one or more of the following causes:
- Your doctor ignored your complaints, although your symptoms closely matched well-known symptoms of that type of cancer.
- A diagnostic laboratory made a mistake. Perhaps your slide was switched with another person's slide — or the pathologist misread your slide.
- A radiologist may have failed to detect early stage lung cancer when studying your chest X-ray.
- The nursing home where your elderly parent was a resident failed to provide timely physicals as promised.
Although cancer has generally been considered a fatal disease, medical research has brought about new therapies and diagnostic procedures. Some cancers do respond well to medication (such as chemotherapy) and treatment (such as radiation treatment). The earlier they are correctly diagnosed, the more likely it is that an oncologist will recommend the course of treatment most likely to result in survival.
Contact a Well-Respected Minneapolis / St. Paul Medical Malpractice Attorney
Our attorneys provide honest, dependable and aggressive advocacy on behalf of people who have suffered harm because of misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose cancer or any other serious medical condition such as meningitis. Contact us to schedule a consultation with a Minnesota lawyer about a misdiagnosis at our Twin Cities law office or in any mutually agreeable location.
