FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE CANCER
If you or a family member has been diagnosed with cancer, and you believe that the treating health care provider should have made that diagnosis at a sooner point in time, when more treatment options were available, when there was a better success rate for survival, at an earlier stage of cancer, then the Monier Law Firm may be able to assist you in obtaining justice, compensation and if appropriate punitive damages.
Cancer is diagnosed in stages using the TNM system. “T” stands for Tumor, “N” stands for Node and “M” stands for Metastasis. Because the stage that a cancer is at when it is first diagnosed is used by doctors to determine the treatment plan and that person’s outlook or prognosis, a person’s stage does not change after that first diagnosis of cancer is made.
The importance of cancer being diagnosed as early as possible and at the earliest stage as possible in order to increase both treatment options and outlook, prognosis and survival rate, cannot be overemphasized. The failure of a healthcare professional to diagnosis cancer at an earlier stage because of carelessness or negligence that was a departure from good and accepted medical practice may be compensable under the law.
A delay in diagnosis may limit or make unavailable treatment options in radiation, surgery or chemotherapy.
A delay in diagnosis may permit a cancer to spread from the primary or original site to other areas in the body. This is known as metastasis. Once a cancer has spread to other parts of the body, treatment becomes more complicated and outlook or prognosis is often downgraded.
A delay in diagnosis may make a cancer untreatable and therefore terminal. Common cancers that are not timely diagnosed include:
- Breast Cancer
- Colon Cancer
- Thyroid Cancer
- Lung Cancer
If you, or a family member, has been diagnosed with cancer that you believe should have been diagnosed at an earlier point in time, at an earlier stage when additional treatment options were available, or when there was a higher survival rate or better outcome expected, then you are going through a situation that is difficult and often times uncertain. Experience, dedication and compassion with personalized service are all provided to each person we speak with.
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