Philadelphia Cancer Delayed Diagnosis Lawyer
Early detection and treatment of cancer greatly improves a patient’s odds not only of surviving cancer, but not having to undergo the most aggressive treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and risky surgeries. If you believe that a healthcare provider failed in their duty to diagnose your cancer symptoms in a reasonably timely manner, or that particular doctor failed to diagnose cancer at all, you may be able to seek damages caused by delayed treatment. Doctors are legally obligated to provide a reasonable standard of care. Failure to do so makes them liable in a medical malpractice claim, and our Philadelphia cancer delayed diagnosis lawyer can help you recover what is rightfully yours. You will find your strongest advocates in your pursuit for financial justice here at The Villari Firm, PLLC.
Why Early Detection is Important
With early diagnosis and treatment, many forms of cancer have 90 percent survival rate or higher. Unfortunately, roughly 50 percent of cancer cases are caught late on, meaning patients are not only forced to undergo more extensive medical treatment than if the cancer had been caught sooner, but their survival rate goes down as well. Cancer can be fast or slow growing. And a once slow-growing cancer can rapidly accelerate in terms of growth rate. If a healthcare provider can catch cancer when it is in stage 1 versus stage 3, the patient will almost always have a better outcome no matter the type of cancer.
How Healthcare Providers Test for Cancer
Healthcare providers can make cancer diagnosis with many different types of tests and imaging. As we age, doctors should be encouraging patients to seek out regular cancer screening based on their age, health history, family history, and sex. Sometimes cancer is detected during routine blood work, or is detected in imaging taken for another injury or illness well before the patient presents signs and symptoms of having cancer. These represent the best outcomes in terms of early detection. However, all too often cancer is misdiagnosed or the diagnosis comes too late. Below are a number of ways that doctors used to diagnose various types of cancer:
- Blood tests
- Urine tests
- Other bodily fluid tests
- Nuclear scan
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan
- Bone scan
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- Ultrasound
- X-ray
- Biopsy
- Colonoscopy
Examples of Negligence
Diagnosing cancer is not always easy, and due to the rapid growth rate of some forms of cancer, it may not be a doctor’s fault for not catching it sooner. However, the following examples may constitute negligence:
- Failure to perform the proper test
- Failure to interpret test results
- Failure to report test results
- Failure to act on test results
- Lab or imaging errors
- Failure to notice a patient’s signs and symptoms
Contact a Philadelphia Cancer Delayed Diagnosis Lawyer Today
Damages from delayed cancer diagnosis include the extra cost of medical treatment, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more. If you believe you or a loved one’s cancer diagnosis was made too late, we urge you to contact our Philadelphia cancer delayed diagnosis lawyers at The Villari Firm today at 215-372-8889 for a free consultation.
