Birmingham Cancer Misdiagnosis Attorneys

The National Cancer Institute stresses the importance of early screening for cancer and the role it can play in saving lives. If detected and treated early enough, many types of cancer can be effectively treated. This is why it can be so frustrating to learn that medical errors may have prevented you or a loved one from discovering cancer at a much earlier stage in the disease. You need to get in touch with an experienced Birmingham medical malpractice lawyer who will fight for the justice that you and your family deserve.

Serious Injury Law Group is here to help with your misdiagnosed cancer lawsuit from start to finish. We don’t just rush to settle cases. We carefully plan each case with an eye toward a potential trial. As lifelong Alabama residents, our attorneys care about improving the quality of care here in our home state, and we want to make Alabama safer for everyone. Call today to schedule a private, free and no-risk consultation.

What Is a Cancer Misdiagnosis?

We go to doctors to detect problems and keep us healthy. We trust that our health care providers will know what to look for and will properly diagnose our condition. Sadly, when a trained medical professional misses important signs and symptoms of cancer, the result can be heartbreaking.

To better understand a cancer misdiagnosis, it is important to understand two main types of diagnostic errors which can occur:

• False negative – This type of misdiagnosis occurs when a doctor determines that no cancer is actually present. This error can happen for two basic reasons. First, the test may be invalid or faulty. Second, the doctor responsible for reading the test results could miss important criteria for a diagnosis. In either situation, you may continue to live under the assumption that you are cancer-free – all the while, you may be getting worse without appropriate care.
• False positive – This type of misdiagnosis can lead to painful and even fatal medical procedures that are entirely unnecessary. If you are falsely diagnosed with cancer, it could lead to chemotherapy and other types of debilitating treatments that result in organ failure or worse.

Cancer is a disease that spreads quickly. The sooner a patient gets the medical help that he or she needs, the better the patient’s chances of beating the disease. This is why it is so important to get a correct diagnosis early.

Why Does a Cancer Misdiagnosis Occur?

According to an insurance industry report by Diederich Healthcare, diagnostic errors are the leading cause of medical malpractice allegations in our country. In fact, misdiagnosis cases account for about 34 percent of all medical malpractice claims nationwide.

The reality is that there are a lot of ways the healthcare industry can improve. Still, we trust doctors to use the best practices available to diagnose our medical conditions. Here are just a few ways that a cancer diagnoses could be missed:

• Failure to spend enough time analyzing the patient’s symptoms – In today’s rushed healthcare environment, doctors often move too quickly from one case to the next without performing a proper evaluation.
• Failure to obtain the patient’s complete and accurate medical history – Obviously, there are instances where this may not be so easy. Still, physicians should make a concerted effort to obtain as much historical data about a patient when attempting to diagnose cancer.
• Failure to correctly communicate medical information – When communicating information from one doctor to another, information must be clear and accurate. A person should never lose their life because health professionals couldn’t interpret someone’s writing or decipher information in a chart.
• Failure to collect adequate genetic information about the patient – Genetic testing is quickly becoming a standard part of a thorough cancer screening.
• Failure to order appropriate tests that could readily detect the disease – Perhaps one of the most important steps in a proper cancer diagnosis is to obtain proper tests and screenings.
• Failure to accurately interpret the results of tests that are conducted – It is not enough to order tests. The physician must accurately interpret those results or consult more experienced and specialized practitioners when necessary.
• Failure to refer a patient to a specialist with the experience and resources to arrive at a prompt and accurate diagnosis – In many instances, a pathologist may be responsible for reading and interpreting blood and tissue samples. Failing to get the pathologist’s report can lead to a bad diagnosis. An inaccurate pathology report may lead to a missed or delayed cancer diagnosis as well.

Our Birmingham Misdiagnosis Attorneys Can Help You

When you hire Serious Injury Law Group, our attorneys will obtain all of the medical evidence in your case. Next, we will carefully review the timeline of events that led to your misdiagnosis. We will also consult closely with medical experts and specialists who can help us to review what went wrong in your case and allow us to build the strongest case possible on your behalf.

In many cases, we are able to negotiate a swift resolution with the negligent health care provider by demonstrating the appropriate standard of care and by successfully showing that the medical professionals failed to meet that standard. Still, if a medical professional and its malpractice insurance carrier refuses to accept liability and/or make a full and fair settlement offer, we will be ready to pursue a lawsuit, take your case to court and fight all the way to trial, if necessary.

Contact Us Today to Discuss Your Cancer Misdiagnosis Case

If you have been harmed by a cancer misdiagnosis, or if a loved one in your family has received the worst news possible, call Serious Injury Law Group to discuss your options and pursue the answers you deserve. Misdiagnosed cancer claims are complex and require skill and experience. Not every attorney is prepared to tackle these highly sensitive and detailed cases. However, our attorneys are highly experienced in this area of the law, and we are ready to go to work for you today.

With offices throughout Alabama, the misdiagnosis lawyers of Serious Injury Law Group can meet with you right away. We will charge you nothing to evaluate your case in an initial consultation. You will also pay no costs or fees unless we secure a financial recovery for you. Don’t wait to get help. Call or reach us online today.