At one time a diagnosis of cancer was considered to be a death sentence but nowadays many cancers can be treated successfully, particularly if they are discovered in the early stages of the disease. On the whole, the earlier the diagnosis is made the greater the chance of a successful outcome.
Unfortunately, some cancers are missed when it should have been possible to pick them up and cancer misdiagnosis claims are one of the most frequent types of case dealt with by clinical negligence solicitors. There is delay in diagnosis of cancer for all kinds of reasons; carelessness, de-skilled, overworked or incompetent doctors, overstretched laboratory staff and GPs who fail to recognise a particular cancer because they come across it so rarely. Sometimes the reverse happens and a diagnosis of cancer is made wrongly. This can result in psychological harm as well as unnecessary and unpleasant treatment and/or surgery. Cancer misdiagnosis is often widely reported in the press and in the past there have been some high profile cases where cervical cancer has been missed and breast cancer wrongly diagnosed. Many of these cases have recovered considerable damages. The most common mistakes resulting in a delay in diagnosis of cancer are -
- Failure to monitor patients with a family history of cancer.
- Failure to examine a patient.
- Failure to investigate symptoms.
- Not recognising signs and symptoms of cancer.
- Ignoring, losing or misinterpreting test results.
- Not referring to a specialist quickly enough.
Legal action to obtain compensation for clinical negligence is a highly specialist area of the law, so the need to have an experienced and specialist trained solicitor is crucial. Our clinical negligence solicitors have dealt with many erroneous and late cancer diagnosis claims over the years, and have become expert in this field of medical negligence law, often recovering considerable compensation for their clients.
JMW Medical Negligence Solicitors are able to deal with claims using both legal aid and the no win no fee scheme in appropriate cases. We offer a free advice session either personally or on the telephone and if after talking to us you decide not to take matters further you are under no obligation to do so and you will not be charged for our initial advice session.
For an assessment of your potential claim, please click here to complete our online enquiry form and one of our specialists will contact you shortly or please contact us on 0845 402 0001.
