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Improper Diagnosis - Cancer and Other Illnesses

Colorado Attorney William P. Godsman

Failure and Delayed Diagnosis of Cancer and other Medical Conditions

When a patient comes to a doctor with symptoms or warning signs, it is crucial to the patient’s health that the doctor recognizes those symptoms and makes a prompt and accurate diagnosis. Many serious diseases, including cancer, are treatable if caught early. Unfortunately, failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis can have fatal results. If you believe you have been harmed by your doctor’s failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis, you may be entitled to compensation for your pain, medical costs, and lost wages. A medical malpractice claim can be very complicated. Therefore, it is important to find an experienced Colorado medical malpractice lawyer immediately, to properly represent your claim.

Doctors have a duty to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of certain conditions. Unfortunately, when patients have multiple medical problems, it may become difficult to make an accurate diagnosis. When doctors are unable to make a diagnosis, they still have a responsibility to find the cause of the symptoms. If they are unable to do this, they should refer the patient to another physician or specialist, who may be more qualified to help. When a doctor fails to diagnose a patient it may be considered medical negligence and grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Reasons for a Delayed Diagnosis:

Doctors may fail to diagnose a particular condition for many reasons, including:

Failure to respond to a patient’s complaints
Failure to follow up
Failure to consider a patient’s medical history
Failure to consider risk factors
Failure to run necessary tests
Misreading test results

Failure to Diagnose Cancer:

Failure to diagnose cancer can be a deadly mistake because early detection is the key to successfully fighting and beating cancer. Many other illnesses can have symptoms similar to cancer, so proper testing by doctors is crucial. If there is any reason to suspect cancer, a doctor should order relevant cancer screening tests. Unfortunately, in many cases, doctors fail to order these essential tests or the test results are misread. When this happens, the patient may not be properly or quickly diagnosed. This failure or delay in diagnosing cancer, makes cancer treatment more difficult and decreases a patient’s chances for survival.

In addition to cancer, there are many other potentially life-threatening conditions doctors frequently fail to diagnose including:

Heart attacks
Strokes
Meningitis
Appendicitis
Thyroid disorders
Hypertension
Toxoplasmosis

Failure to Diagnose: Who is Responsible
Doctors are not the only parties who may be held responsible for failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis of an illness. Medical insurance companies may also be held liable if they have not allowed necessary testing and follow-up care. If you have experienced serious medical consequences resulting from a doctor’s failure to diagnose or an insurance company’s failure to allow necessary tests, you should consult a qualified Colorado medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible to discuss your case.

Free Consultation
If you are concerned that you have suffered an unneccessary injury or impairment due to medical negligence, contact Denver medical malpractice attorney William P. Godsman today. He can provide a free case consultation and discuss with you your legal options for recovery. Call (303) 455-6900.

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