Fighting For Victims Of Failure To Diagnose Injuries

The failure to diagnose a medical condition, and most commonly the failure to diagnose cancer, clearly can have fatal consequences.

Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP attorneys have been involved in several failures to diagnose matters which have led to multimillion-dollar settlements for the patient and their families. In one matter, a pediatrician and a hospital failed to diagnose and treat the patient’s hypoglycemia. In another matter, a physician failed to diagnose a patient’s breast cancer properly. These medical malpractice issues can have lasting ramifications.

Cancer and Failure to Diagnose Claims

An accurate and timely diagnosis can make a life-or-death difference in the treatment of cancer. More than 1.8 million new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Regular screenings by doctors and other health professionals can result in the detection of cancer at an early stage when it is often most treatable.

However, sometimes screenings are misinterpreted. This negligence allows the cancer to spread which can increase the risk of harm to the patient. In these situations, you should consult with an attorney.

Insurance Companies And Failure To Diagnose Cases

If the doctor or medical provider carries the appropriate insurance policy, you are making a failure-to-diagnose claim against that insurance company. Insurance companies are very likely to fight back against this delayed diagnosis claim, so it can be very difficult to prove without experienced medical malpractice lawyers by your side. It is crucial that you know exactly what steps to take to demonstrate that the failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis is an example of medical malpractice, that you or a family member suffered harm as a result, and that you deserve appropriate financial compensation.

One thing to note is that a negative outcome alone doesn’t necessarily mean it is an example of medical malpractice. You need to prove that the doctor was negligent in some way, breaching their duty of care to you or a family member as a patient. If you received care that was of a lower level than you would have expected to receive from similar medical professionals at another institution, or if you can show that the doctor made negligent and avoidable errors or mistakes, then you can demonstrate that they bear responsibility for that negative outcome.

At a time like this, it is often helpful to work with established medical experts or interview others in the industry. For example, maybe your medical team missed clear indicators that you had a type of cancer, allowing the disease to progress and metastasize. Another medical expert in the cancer field may be able to look at the scans or medical records and demonstrate how they would have provided a higher level of care – perhaps by reading the scans accurately, ordering other types of tests or taking other proactive steps to make the diagnosis sooner.

In other words, you’re not just demonstrating that there was a delay in diagnosing your disease. You need to show that the delay was unwarranted and that your specific medical team caused the delay, making them liable for your medical costs because you deserved a higher standard of care. This can be a difficult and emotionally trying process, and it is helpful to have someone by your side who isn’t impacted by the emotional pain that a failure-to-diagnose claim can have on you or a loved one – especially if you have suffered catastrophic injuries or if a disease has progressed so that it is difficult or even impossible to cure.

Common Medical Errors Leading to Failure to Diagnose in Delaware

Medical errors that lead to missed or delayed diagnoses stem from breakdowns in how health care providers evaluate symptoms, interpret data and communicate. In Delaware, these failures can rise to the level of medical negligence when the accepted standard of care is not met, resulting in serious and sometimes permanent harm.

One of the most frequent causes is misinterpreting or overlooking diagnostic test results. Lab values, imaging scans and pathology reports are only effective if they are reviewed correctly and acted on promptly. Errors in this area commonly involve the following issues:

• Abnormal lab results that are misread or dismissed as insignificant, delaying the identification of infections, cancer or internal bleeding.
• Imaging studies, such as CT scans or MRIs, that are incorrectly interpreted, leading to missed strokes, tumors or spinal injuries.
• Test results that are never communicated to the patient or follow-up testing that is never ordered.

These failures can allow conditions like cancer to progress to advanced stages before treatment begins. An attorney can assess whether these mistakes violated the standard of care.

Another major contributor to diagnostic failure is ignoring or minimizing patient-reported symptoms. When symptoms are brushed off or attributed to less serious conditions, life-threatening illnesses can be missed. This is especially common in cases involving heart attacks, strokes and infections.

Examples include:

• Chest pain labeled as indigestion
• Neurological symptoms dismissed as stress
• Persistent fevers treated without investigating the source

These errors are usually compounded by poor communication among health care professionals, increasing the risk of delayed care.

Failing to order appropriate tests is also a recurring issue. When doctors rely solely on assumptions instead of diagnostic tools, critical conditions may go undetected. This problem may overlap with other forms of medical errors, including:

• Not ordering cardiac testing for patients with heart attack warning signs
• Delaying biopsies or imaging when cancer is suspected
• Failing to perform blood cultures or scans to identify infections
• Overlooking complications caused by medication errors or prior surgical errors

Closing gaps in testing requires proving that reasonable health care providers would have acted differently under similar circumstances.

Because Delaware law limits how long victims have to act under the statute of limitations, working with experienced failure to diagnose lawyers in Delaware is critical. A qualified medical malpractice attorney can consult experts and determine whether health care providers breached the standard of care. This support is essential to hold negligent parties accountable when a diagnosis comes too late.

Resources for Your Recovery in Failure to Diagnose Cases

A patient alleging a failure to diagnose cancer has the same burden of proof as a medical malpractice lawsuit. The patient must not only show that the physician had a duty to timely diagnose cancer, but that the physician breached the duty and that the breach caused injury to the patient.

Breakthroughs in cancer research and treatments also mean that standards of care and best practices in this area change and evolve regularly. Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP attorneys stay informed of medical developments and emerging legal protections for patients so that we can maximize all efforts in recovering compensation for the injury you have suffered. Contact us for a FREE consultation at 302-298-0370.