Breast Cancer Awareness Month

OCTOBER IS BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

Many patients believe their breast cancer should have been diagnosed sooner. Sometimes the time between when the cancer should have been diagnosed and when it was diagnosed is negligible. Sometimes years pass, allowing the cancer to grow unchecked, between the time when the diagnosis should have been made and when the cancer is finally recognized.

When contemplating the pursuit of a failure to diagnose medical malpractice case, the losses suffered by the victim due to the delay have to be substantial enough to warrant the substantial monetary and time costs of prosecuting a lawsuit.

Mammograms are recommended and performed in order to give patients a chance at early discovery of breast cancer.  And a false negative mammogram can have devastating effects on a breast cancer victim. Mammograms are x-rays of the breast, and they are used for two main reasons:

• The first is known as a “screening mammogram,” performed periodically to see if there are any unusual changes in the breast that can be detected before symptoms present themselves.
• The second type of mammogram is known as a “diagnostic mammogram”.  A diagnostic mammogram is done when there is a particular mass, symptom or other finding that indicates the need for the study to diagnose the nature of the mass, symptom or other finding.

In both cases, mammography errors can result in serious injuries, loss of opportunity to treat conservatively, and sometimes even death. Chemotherapy, radiation, surgery along with lifestyle and diet changes are all treatments for cancer. 

Perhaps the best tool for combating cancer is early detection.

Doctors advise women to obtain a breast cancer screening every year to ensure early detection and higher survival rates. Women are also encouraged to perform the self-examinations on a regular basis. There are several other tests and procedures available that can detect the presence of cancerous cells. Mammograms are commonly used to detect breast cancer, but biopsies are sometimes performed.

Early diagnosis of the condition during the early stages of cell growth offer the patient a 90% 5-year survival rate. This is just one of the many reasons that a failure to diagnose or a delay in diagnosis can be so devastating. Too often, relatively easily treated breast cancer is not diagnosed and after incubating for a length of time grows in size with tragic results.

Nearly 235,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer very year, and an estimated 40,000 die of the disease annually.

Chemotherapy, radiation, lifestyle and diet changes are all treatments available for cancer; however, prevention and early detection of the disease are best.

Early detection is key for treatment of breast cancer. Doctors advise women to obtain a breast cancer screening every year to ensue early detection and higher survival rates. Women are also encouraged to perform the self-examinations on a regular basis. There are several other tests and procedures available that detect the presence of the cancerous cells. Mammograms are commonly used to detect breast cancer, but biopsies are sometimes performed.

Early diagnosis of the condition during the early stages of cell growth offer the patient a 90% 5-year survival rate. This is just one of the many reasons that medical malpractice is so devastating. All too often, the cancer was easily treatable, perhaps even prevented. But instead, a doctor, a person who took an oath to give you superior care, let you down, and now the results are tragic.

How Does Medical Malpractice Occur?

Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, nurse, physical therapist, radiation specialist or another member of the medical field commits negligence in the diagnosis or treatment of breast cancer. This negligence often causes a negative outcome, since the cancer is harder to treat the longer that it persists. The following are instances of medical malpractice:

• Failure to screen for breast cancer.
• Misreading of CT scans, x-rays.
• Failure to follow-up with a patient about results of a positive test.
• Failed to discover cancerous cells present during a mammogram.
• Improper breast cancer treatment.

The failure to make recommendations based on an abnormal mammogram, sonogram or MRI findings often results in a lack of timely follow up that permits the cancer to advance and worsen.

The kinds of follow-up that may be needed include: three-month or six-month follow-up imaging, spot views, magnification, further diagnostic mammogram, breast ultrasound (for lumps and masses) or biopsy (for a tissue sample).

Failure to recommend these follow-ups when called on can be the result of negligence or of a mammography error (where the radiologist does not see a need for follow-ups because the incorrectly administered mammogram shows no signs of cancer).

Contact the Chicago Medical Malpractice Law Firm of Zayed Law Offices Personal Injury Attorneys for Help Today

If you or a family member has experienced complications following a Breast Cancer Misdiagnosis, please contact us via telephone or through our website. At Zayed Law Offices Personal Injury Attorneys, we truly have the experience and resources in order to remedy any wrongs committed by a negligent doctor.

That being said, it is important to note that the vast majority of medical professionals are terrifically talented. It is the same medical professionals over and over who create the plurality of misdiagnosis errors.

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