Receiving a breast cancer diagnosis is likely the most devastating news you can hear. However, what is possibly worse is if you receive this diagnosis too late. Or, if you fail to receive this diagnosis altogether, even though the cancer is present and hurting your body.聽Read on to discover whether you can seek to recover damages after a failed breast cancer diagnosis and how a seasoned New York failure to diagnose breast cancer attorney at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. can help explore your legal options.
What are the consequences if my doctor fails to diagnose my breast cancer?
It is almost always the case that a failure to diagnose breast cancer means that it is all the more difficult to treat. In other words, your delayed or failed diagnosis may mean that you now have an unnecessary life-threatening state of health.
For example, there are four recognized stages of cancer, with each having a different reported rate of curing. More specifically, you may have a 100 percent chance of beating Stage I breast cancer; 93 percent for Stage II; 72 percent for Stage III; and 22 percent for Stage IV. Hence, if your doctor does not detect your Stage I breast cancer from early on, it may rapidly turn into Stage IV breast cancer. What’s worse is if your breast cancer has metastasized. Meaning, that it has spread to a different or secondary site within your body, which is more challenging to target and eliminate.
So, on top of a lesser survival rate, Stage IV or metastasized breast cancer may mean a mastectomy or lumpectomy; radiation or chemotherapy; and rehabilitative and reconstructive surgeries that could have been easily avoided.
Can I seek to recover damages after a failed breast cancer diagnosis?
Technically, your doctor’s failure to diagnose your breast cancer is a form of medical malpractice. Therefore, you may attempt to recover the damages that you incurred from such medical malpractice via legal action. In your medical malpractice case, you may claim that your more severe stage of breast cancer has caused you to incur the following economic damages and non-economic damages:
- Economic damages:
- Your hefty medical bills, which are more than you would have paid with a timely diagnosis.
- Your lost wages that your family once depended on, due to your busy schedule of procedures that minimize your ability to maintain employment.
- Your lost inheritances that your family once banked on, which instead go towards your medical expenses.
- Non-economic damages:
- Your having to participate in more invasive procedures.
- Your permanent disability.
- Your chronic pain and suffering.
- Your inability to nurture your minor children.
- Your diminished quality of life.
You must not question your instinct to retain the services of a competent New York City diagnosis error attorney. Our team at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. will work to determine which legal option best suits you.