How To Handle Cancer Misdiagnosis
Typically, nobody wants to be diagnosed with cancer. With all the medical treatments needed, having cancer can be a devastating experience. However, the frustration becomes worse when you have no cancer, but your illness is diagnosed as one. This situation is commonly called cancer misdiagnosis. It refers to a mistake committed by a doctor when they incorrectly diagnose your condition.
When you have a cancer misdiagnosis, proper medical treatment is likely delayed. This delay, on the other hand, can cost you valuable time for appropriate treatment. Also, while undergoing treatment, you’d experience financial difficulties, mental anguish, and diminished ability to work and enjoy personal activities due to your inability to condition and energize your body. Given these circumstances, it’s essential to know what steps to take after a cancer diagnosis. Doing so can make a huge difference in your recovery.
If you’re a victim of cancer misdiagnosis, keep reading this article to learn how you should handle it more effectively.
Recognize Cancer Misdiagnosis
In most cases, doctors do their best to care for their patients and provide the support they need. But, if you feel like your physician isn’t as supportive of your cancer diagnosis as they should be, there might be something wrong going on.
Hence, if you suspect you were misdiagnosed with cancer, the first thing you should do is to recognize the signs as soon as possible. That way, you can handle the misdiagnosis more effectively to protect your health and overall well-being. Some common indications of a cancer misdiagnosis can include:
- Your physician isn’t sure about the type of your cancer.
- Physician’s specializations don’t include cancer diagnosis and treatment.
- Your physician doesn’t consider your symptoms seriously.
- Your physician isn’t open to discussing other treatment options for your cancer.
As enumerated above, many signs can help determine whether you have cancer misdiagnosis. Remember, you can handle this health-related problem properly if you have reasons to believe you were misdiagnosed with cancer.
Get A Second Medical Opinion
Now that you already recognize cancer misdiagnosis, it’s time to seek a second medical opinion to verify your suspicion and correct the mistake as quickly as possible. When you talk to another doctor, make sure to ask as many questions as possible to address your concerns. If possible, you can have both doctors speak to each other to see if they disagree about your medical condition.
Moreover, it’s essential to get copies of all your medical records, including transcripts, pathology reports, hospitalization, and many more. You can give these documents to your second doctor to examine whether a cancer misdiagnosis has happened to you. Lastly, if you want to ensure the new diagnosis is accurate, try to get more opinions, especially if the results vary.
Consult A Lawyer
Aside from getting another medical opinion, it’s also best to consult a lawyer to know if you can sue your doctor for cancer misdiagnosis. However, if you want to understand better how you can turn your misdiagnosis into legal action, you can visit this page for more valuable information.
Typically, a cancer misdiagnosis can be a ground for filing a medical malpractice case. But, to determine whether you have a viable claim against the doctor, it’s essential to evaluate the elements of your case. These can include:
- The doctor had a duty of care to the patient.
- The doctor breached the duty of care with negligence.
- The breach caused an injury to the patient.
- The injury resulted in significant losses, such as medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and many more.
So, suppose you believe your doctor violated their duty of care by misdiagnosing your cancer, and that breach caused you an injury in the form of economic and non-economic losses. In that case, you may file a medical malpractice case arising from cancer misdiagnosis. When this happens, you need to seek legal help to handle your case more efficiently. They can assess the facts of your case and perform a thorough investigation to help collect the evidence needed. These pieces of evidence are necessary for substantiating your claim and increasing your chances of compensation.
Moreover, with a lawyer by your side, you can ensure your malpractice claim is filed within the deadlines allowed by law. If you don’t want to lose your right to file a case against the erring doctor, make sure to act on it as soon as you find out about the cancer misdiagnosis.
Bottom Line
No matter how unfortunate it is, cancer misdiagnosis can happen to you or anyone. Thus, if you want to know how you’re going to proceed with this health-related issue, it could be best to keep the above mentioned things in mind for guidance. The more you know how to handle a medical misdiagnosis properly, the more you can attain a favorable outcome for your health condition.