Military Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyers

Legal Counsel During Difficult Times

While all medical misdiagnoses are dangerous, cancer misdiagnoses put patients at a particularly high risk of serious health complications. In some cases, misdiagnosing cancer can even heighten the patient’s risk of passing away from the disease.

If you went to a military medical facility or VA hospital for cancer screenings and a misdiagnosis occurred, National Trial Law wants to hear from you. Our cancer misdiagnosis attorneys know the many intricacies of these delicate cases and how to handle them from start to finish. Let us represent and guide you during the process of seeking justice and compensation through either an injury claim/lawsuit or a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) claim.

See if you can file a cancer misdiagnosis claim after medical malpractice at a military medical center. Call (833) 913-1885 and request a free consultation.

Common Cancer Misdiagnoses

A cancer misdiagnosis occurs when cancer is mistaken for another health condition or isn’t identified in a reasonable amount of time. According to one study, missed cancer diagnoses represent 46% of the diagnostic errors in primary care practices. 51% of cases involved the failure or a delay in ordering a diagnostic test and 37% involved the failure or delay in getting a specialist consult or referral.

Cancer can trigger many different symptoms depending on where it has formed in the body, so medical providers need to be thorough in their testing to identify it and rule out other health conditions that could be confused with it. For example, lung cancer may cause frequent coughing and breathing difficulties, so it is sometimes confused with bronchitis or less serious forms of lung irritation.

Five types of cancer that are often misdiagnosed include:

1. Breast cancer
2. Lung cancer
3. Colon or colorectal cancer
4. Skin cancer 
5. Prostate cancer

How Can Doctors Test for Cancer?

In recent decades, the methods available to test for cancer have improved amazingly. Doctors and oncologists now have a variety of diagnostic tools that can be used to look for signs of cancer in virtually any part of a patient’s body.

Different ways to test for cancer include the following and more:

• Computerized tomography (CT) scan
• Ultrasound
• X-ray
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Bone scan
• Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
• Biopsy

Even a patient’s medical history and that of their close relatives can be reviewed to look for genetic dispositions that indicate a higher risk of cancer. With so many ways to look for cancer, it becomes even more frustrating for a patient when a medical provider fails to utilize a diagnostic method that might have identified the cancer early.

When we handle a cancer misdiagnosis claim, we always ask whether the military hospital did enough to check for our client’s cancer. A review of their medical record might expose that not enough diagnostic tests were requested by the doctor or that the test results were misinterpreted. In either situation, medical malpractice might have occurred, which would justify legal action.

Consequences of Cancer Misdiagnoses

When cancer is misdiagnosed, the consequences can be varied and dangerous, such as:

• Cancer progression: The most dangerous consequence of failing to diagnose cancer is the continued progression of the cancer. In some cases, a cancer might progress to a new stage because it was misdiagnosed, and the treatments were delayed.
• Unnecessary treatment: If cancer is mistaken for another health condition, a patient might be subjected to various unnecessary treatments. At best, unnecessary treatments waste time, money, and energy; at worst, unnecessary treatments can cause further injury to the patient.
• Emotional distress: It’s important to not overlook the emotional distress and trauma that can be experienced by someone who learns that their cancer was misdiagnosed and now they have to suffer the consequences of their oncologist’s mistakes.