Medical negligence and breast cancer
Around 41,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed every year but unfortunately, as a result of medical negligence, many more cases are either misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. Read more about medical negligence.
Breast cancer is characterised by the cells in part of the breast growing in an abnormal, chaotic way where they become out of control. If the cancer is left untreated, the cells can spread within the breast or break off and travel elsewhere in the body, spreading the cancer to other body parts.
There are various stages of breast cancer, stages one to four, with stage one meaning that the tumour is no more than two cm across and stage four being the most severe type where the cancer has spread to other body parts. However, many breast cancers rarely get the chance to develop beyond stages one and two, unless medical negligence is involved.
Diagnosing breast cancer
Sadly, many women are still not in the habit of checking their own breasts for abnormalities. However, medical negligence and misdiagnosis by physicians are major causes of unacceptable, preventable breast cancer mortality.
One sign of breast cancer may be the development of a lump in the breast or armpit area. Some lumps are hard to detect and regular mammograms at your local well-woman clinic should improve your chances of being diagnosed with cancer at a treatable stage.
If, however, you go to your GP after finding a lump in your breast or you have a lump discovered while visiting the well-woman clinic you may be assured that your lump 'is just a cyst', when in fact it is cancerous. This kind of misdiagnosis can be fatal simply because a more advanced stage of breast cancer is more difficult to treat.
Treating breast cancer
Common treatments of breast cancer include:
- Radiotherapy or radiation therapy - using a radioactive substance that circulates throughout the body.
- Chemotherapy - using specific chemical agents or drugs that are selectively destructive to malignant cells and tissues.
- Sentinel lymph node biopsy - examination and removal of the first lymph node (located under the armpit).
- Mastectomy - removal of the breast tissue.
Medical negligence and breast cancer
Breast cancer is one of the five most common diseases in the US associated with medical negligence compensation awards.
The most common cases of medical malpractice associated with breast cancer are misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis as a result of problems with diagnosis methods or mismanagement of medical diagnosis tests. Regularly, the severity of a breast lump or other symptom is underestimated.
What happens when a misdiagnosis is made?
If the wrong diagnosis is made a patient may receive treatments such as chemotherapy for an illness that they do not have and, as a result, suffer traumatic side-effects such as vomiting and hair loss. Even worse, a patient diagnosed with breast cancer may have a mastectomy performed only to discover that they did not need it, thereby suffering a highly traumatic operation unnecessarily.
Alternatively, if a lump in the breast is overlooked by a medical professional a patient may be diagnosed too late for treatments, such as radiotherapy or chemotherapy, to have any effect. This may mean that they have to undergo a single or double mastectomy or, in the most extreme cases, lose their life.
Making a medical negligence compensation claim today
If you, or someone close to you, has suffered medical negligence associated with breast cancer, a birth injury, surgery or under any other circumstances, then we are here to help. Read more about the medical negligence claim process.
YouClaim's panel of personal injury solicitors are highly experienced at dealing with medical negligence claims and have a fantastic success rate.
We work on a no win, no fee basis and you won't have to pay anything towards the cost of the case, regardless of its outcome.
For free legal advice contact us via our e-chat facility, to talk to us at a more convenient time leave us a call back request or to make a medical negligence claim today, just call 0800 10 757 95.
