Cancer comes in many different forms, but all of them can prove devastating. Cancer usually begins in one type of tissue and then may spread to other parts of the body. Left untreated, cancer can prove fatal.
Patients experiencing unusual symptoms go to their doctors for a diagnosis. Doctors must identify cancer accurately to treat patients facing this potentially deadly disease. Sadly, the failure to diagnose cancer accurately is relatively common.
How could doctors with years of experience in medical training fail to identify a potentially deadly disease?
Cancer symptoms are often generic
Doctors now have a variety of tools to help them diagnose cancer. Doctors hearing patient complaints about their symptoms should make a point of ruling out serious issues before they assume that minor medical issues are the underlying cause of the symptoms.
Early cancer symptoms may include weight loss, fatigue, chronic pain and a variety of other relatively generic symptoms, ranging from a cough in cases involving lung cancer to a rash if the patient has lymphoma. If doctors rush to conclusions regarding what causes those symptoms, they may misdiagnose the patient instead of investigating to find the true cause of their symptoms.
By the time the patient sees another doctor who can diagnose them properly, the cancer may have metastasized or spread to other parts of their body. In some cases, families only learn that an individual had cancer after a post-mortem medical examination.
In cases where doctors have failed to diagnose a serious but treatable condition, such as cancer, their preventable mistakes may constitute medical malpractice. Reviewing medical records with another physician and speaking with a lawyer can be smart steps for those dealing with the aftermath of a diagnostic error accordingly.