Certain conditions and diseases — like cancer — require prompt diagnosis and treatment. Any delay or confusion with treatment plans can have disastrous results, permanently injuring or even killing patients in Delaware. An out-of-state man recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit because staff at the hospital where he was receiving treatment gave him the incorrect dose of a chemotherapy drug that was key to his treatment.
Doctors first diagnosed the former college basketball player with cancer back in 2018. He apparently started treatment soon after, which included multiple doses of a specific chemotherapy drug over a period of two months. Staff were supposed to administer 4,000 mg over eight days, but instead only gave him 1,000 mg each time.
Since he only received 25% of what was supposed to be a life-saving treatment, his cancer had metastasized to other parts of his body. He underwent radical surgery and then went through more rounds of immunosuppressive therapy, chemotherapy and radiation. His suit claims that he could have avoided this aggressive treatment if medical staff had given him the correct dosage. The suit also says that he is expected to die from what should have been a curable cancer.
Patients in Delaware and elsewhere should be able to go to doctors and hospitals with the confidence that they will receive the best possible treatment. Unfortunately, mistakes in the medical field are not as uncommon as some people may think. When patients who are the unfortunate victims of such mistakes suffer physical, mental and even financial damages, pursuing a medical malpractice claim could be the most appropriate course of action.