Medical Malpractice in Cancer Diagnosis

Early diagnosis of cancer is critically important in curing the disease, as early diagnosis generally allows for the removal of the tumor before it spreads and metastasizes to other organs, as well as timely treatment, thereby often enabling the patient's life to be saved. In contrast, failure to diagnose or late diagnosis of a cancerous tumor may lead to deterioration of the patient's condition to the point of loss of recovery chances and death.

Many medical malpractice lawsuits are filed due to late detection of malignant diseases and cancerous tumors. If damage was caused due to failure to diagnose cancer or due to delay in diagnosing cancer or misdiagnosis (for example, the tumor turned from benign to malignant, the cancer cells spread and metastasized, etc.), the injured party has grounds for a lawsuit due to the late diagnosis or failure to diagnose cancer.

Medical malpractice in cancer diagnosis typically occurs in cases where a comprehensive medical history is not taken indicating hereditary family background, or due to lack of follow-up or lack of monitoring of changes or pre-cancerous signs or symptoms requiring strict follow-up. Negligence in diagnosis can also occur in cases of ignoring the patient's complaints indicating the possibility of a serious illness, or refraining from referral to appropriate or required tests under the circumstances, as well as resulting from incorrect and erroneous interpretation of test results that led to misdiagnosis of the disease or failure to diagnose the disease in its early stages.

The injured party's claim is generally that the cancer showed, already in its early stages, preliminary signs that the treating doctor should have suspected as indicating a serious illness, and should have referred the injured party to appropriate tests. The injured party's claim is that had the treating doctor diagnosed the disease at an earlier stage, the recovery chances would have been much higher and the damage would have been smaller (extended life expectancy, minor surgery instead of extensive, avoidance of radiation or chemotherapy treatment, etc.).

Additional acts or omissions that can establish grounds for medical malpractice are a decision to provide inappropriate treatment, incorrect choice of treatment method, administration of an incorrect drug dosage, negligent performance of surgery to remove the tumor, and more.

Medical malpractice in cancer diagnosis relates to all existing types of cancer, including breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, skin cancer, thyroid cancer, and more.

The courts have developed numerous precedents in lawsuits on grounds of medical malpractice due to late detection of cancer, both regarding the duties imposed on the family doctor who is the first address to which most patients turn with the appearance of the first signs of serious illness (duty of specialization and staying updated with medical literature, maintaining a high level of expertise that will allow ruling out common diagnoses and checking for the existence of less common diseases, the duty to refer for consultation with a medical expert in the relevant field) and regarding the "loss of recovery chances" of an injured party whose disease was diagnosed at a later stage than it should have been detected.

A lawsuit for medical malpractice that is accepted by the court generally entitles the injured party to an exceptionally high compensation amount that is meant to reflect the injured party's severe and sometimes irreversible damages.

Our law office is a law office specializing in medical malpractice lawsuits and has accumulated extensive medical knowledge and experience over decades of activity, working with leading medical experts. Therefore, if you believe that your disease was not diagnosed in time and that as a result your illness worsened, or that you were given inappropriate treatment, we recommend contacting our office immediately for legal consultation and examination of the feasibility of filing a lawsuit on grounds of medical malpractice.