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One of the most frequent types of compensation claim seen by medical negligence solicitors in the UK is the failure to diagnose cancer. Significant advances in medical knowledge have made it possible to prevent or treat some types of this illness through early detection, which can dramatically improve quality of life, survival chances and life expectancy.
Breast cancer More than one in 10 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and early detection, through self examination and mammograms, is a key factor in successful treatment and higher survival rates.
Cancer of the breast often responds well to early treatment; however sometimes, even after a woman feels a lump, her cancer goes undetected for months – often due to medical negligence, which results in more legal claims for cancer of the breast than any other disease.
Often the victims of undetected cancer are younger women and doctors may rely too heavily on negative mammogram results even if the woman has felt a lump. Younger women's breast tissue is denser and a mammogram may miss small tumours. In addition doctors rely too heavily on a woman’s age as a predicting factor as breast cancer is more often associated with older women and doctors often do not to take younger women's complaints seriously.
Cervical cancer Another frequent type of compensation claim seen by medical negligence solicitors is the failure to diagnose cervical cancer.
Many medical mistakes can lead to a delay in diagnosis which may deprive patients of the chance for a cure. They include lost records, failing to realise the importance of a patient’s complaints, treating a patient inappropriately, misreading pap smears, inaccurate test results or failing to refer a patient to a cancer specialist.
Cervical cancer is generally regarded by the medical profession as a largely preventable disease due to the fact that precancerous changes can usually be detected by pap smears obtained during routine pelvic examinations. Pap smears, however, must be carried out properly and interpreted by specialists.
A leading report on pap smears said: “...many women who are tested receive inaccurate results due to interpretative or reporting errors by cytopathology laboratories or specimen collection errors by clinicians. The failure of some physicians to provide adequate follow-up for abnormal pap smears is another source of delay in the management of cervical dysplasia...”
Ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a malignant tumour that begins in the ovaries. Cancerous cells can break away from the ovary and spread to other tissue and organs, including the peritoneum and the diaphragm, and can also enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system and form new tumours in other parts of the body. Approximately 1.5% of women will be diagnosed as suffering from this condition during their lifetimes.
Ovarian cancer is hard to detect in its early stages and women often have no symptoms or mild symptoms until the disease is in an advanced stage.
Prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy in men. Over 30,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the UK and over 10% will die from the disease. Some of those deaths are unnecessary and are as a result of medical negligence due to failure to ensure timely diagnosis. New diagnostic tools are available for early detection and doctors owe a duty of care to ensure prompt examination.
Colon cancer Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the UK and failure of diagnosis is one of the most frequently occurring types of medical negligence case.
Misdiagnosis of colon cancer usually results from a failure to evaluate properly complaints of rectal bleeding, which continues to be a major cause of deaths each year. Cancer of the colon almost always arises from a polyp which is often readily demonstrable for years and which may bleed intermittently before an invasive and ultimately incurable cancer develops.
Lung cancer Lung cancer is divided into two major types, described as ‘non-small cell cancer’ and ‘small cell cancer’, depending on the structure of the cells when viewed under a microscope. Each of these types of cancer grows and spreads in a different way and is treated differently. A biopsy, which is the removal of a small sample of tissue for examination under a microscope by a pathologist, can confirm diagnosis.
In all cases the usual key to successful treatment is early diagnosis and if a healthcare professional has failed through their negligence to diagnose the illness in a timely manner then compensation may be payable for the worsening of the illness.
Many medical mistakes can lead to a delay in cancer diagnosis which may deprive patients of the chance for a cure: they include lost records, failing to realise the importance of a patient’s complaints, treating a patient inappropriately, misreading x-rays, inaccurate test results or failing to refer a patient to a specialist.
Cancer treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation, are designed to kill living cells and the pain and suffering and financial hardship can be horrendous. Early diagnosis may mean less pain and suffering, less financial hardship and a greater chance of survival.