Archive for the ‘Undiagnosed or Misdiagnosed’ Category

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Anticipating Common Defenses to Cancer Misdiagnoses

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

You’ve suffered physical harm, or lost a loved one, due to a doctor’s negligence. While a reasonable doctor would’ve found and correctly diagnosed the cancer, the doctor you or your loved one saw failed to do that and the cancer progressed.

Now you, with the help of your Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyer, have filed a failure to diagnose lawsuit and the doctor is defending himself. The doctor may argue, for example, that it wasn’t his fault – someone else should have caught the mistake. Alternatively, you may have a doctor who argues that the failure to diagnose was because of the cancer itself and not because of his own negligence.

As the doctor argues that he did not breach his duty of care and acted as a reasonable doctor would’ve acted, you may become concerned and frustrated. However, you are not alone. Your Pennsylvania failure to diagnose attorney expects these defenses, is prepared for the defenses and will work hard to get you the fair and equitable discovery that you deserve.

New Breast Cancer Treatment May Only be Effective at Early Stages

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawyers and doctors have long known that the failure to diagnose breast cancer, or a breast cancer misdiagnosis, may allow the disease to progress and may deny a woman of treatment that could save her life.

Chemotherapy and radiation, for example, are often most effective when used on early stage cancers. Now, there is a new type of radiation available for some breast cancer patients that allows patients to get radiation in the operating room before they are closed up from surgery. This direct radiation is thought to be just as effective as traditional radiation, but with fewer side effects. Patients can often return to their normal lives faster with this direct operating room radiation.

Yet, the research also indicates that this radiation has best results when used on small tumors that have not yet reached the lymph nodes. If the breast cancer was misdiagnosed and allowed to progress to a later stage then this exciting new treatment may no longer be an option.

If you have been the victim of a delayed breast cancer diagnosis then it is important to speak with your doctor about all of your possible treatment options.

47 Percent of Doctors Encounter Diagnostic Mistakes At Least Every Month

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

A new study recently released by QuantiaMD had some surprising results. 

First the Bad News

The study questioned about 6,400 physicians and found that:

  • 47% of doctors encounter medical misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses at least monthly in their practices.
  • 64% of respondents say that at least 10% of the diagnostic errors they see result in harm to the patient.
  • Doctors identified the top five conditions at the highest risk for misdiagnosis as:
    • Pulmonary embolism
    • Bipolar disorder
    • Appendicitis
    • Breast cancer
    • Myocardial infraction

Some reasons for the failure to diagnose these conditions and for the misdiagnosis of these conditions include the failure to take a complete family history, the failure to take a complete individual health history, and the failure to consider atypical patient presentations.

Now the Good News

96% of the doctors questioned believe that diagnostic errors are preventable at least some of the time.  To prevent future diagnostic errors the doctors surveyed believe that a combination of new technology and an improvement in the art of diagnosis will be required.

Are you surprised by the prevalence of diagnostic errors? Do you believe that this potentially dangerous problem can be solved? Please leave us a comment and share your thoughts on this important topic.

3 Things You Might Not Know About Heart Attacks

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

We all know that heart attacks are dangerous and that heart attacks can be deadly, but did you know that:

  • It is possible to heave a heart attack without severe pain.
  • The failure to diagnose heart attacks account for about 30% of medical malpractice payout. 
  • 2-5% of people who have heart attacks and who go to emergency rooms are inappropriately turned away from emergency rooms.

What does this mean for you?

It means that you, and your loved ones, should know common symptoms of heart attacks and fight for thorough testing if you believe that you might be suffering from a heart attack.  If you are aggressive in your own care then may save you from an early death or disability due to the failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis of a heart attack.

What Should a Pennsylvania Doctor Do if He or She Makes a Mistake?

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

As a patient, or the parent of a patient, what would you want a doctor to do after you’ve suffered an injury due to the doctor’s mistake.  Many patients find that they want their doctor to apologize and provide for the medical care necessary to fix the mistake.

Yet, admitting a mistake is not something that comes easy to most physicians.  Many fight medical malpractice claims even when there is substantial evidence of their errors. 

How will your doctor respond to your claim that an error occurred?  It is hard to tell.  While some physicians have started speaking out about the mistakes they have made, other doctors remain hesitant to do so.

Thus, it is important to protect your rights by understanding what to do if you believe that you, or a loved one, have been a victim of Pennsylvania medical malpractice.

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