When you have unusual symptoms and visit a doctor, you trust they will diagnose the particular condition and treat it. Unfortunately, this may not be your experience. Medical errors, including failures to diagnose and misdiagnoses, can occur.
These two mistakes can lead to a delayed diagnosis of a disease, and the effects can be significant when the illness, such as cancer, can be life-threatening. Here are three effects of a delayed cancer diagnosis.
1. Less time to treat
Cancer is highly treatable if discovered at the right stage. Partial or complete remission can be reported even with one treatment type. However, if discovered in the later stages, when the tumor has grown (and cancer cells have spread), treatment can be complicated.
2. More expensive treatment
When cancer spreads, doctors may need to administer different treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, surgery and medications. And since the disease may be at a dangerous stage, these treatments can be more frequent. This can translate to thousands of dollars of unnecessary expenses.
3. More psychological pain
Treating cancer at any stage can be devastating. However, doing so at later stages, knowing it could have been avoided, can significantly affect one’s mental health.
Besides, the treatments mentioned above can have painful side effects. This can lead to physical and psychological anguish for patients that could have been avoided.
What can you do?
If your doctor gave you an incorrect diagnosis (or didn’t give one at all) after you reported your symptoms, and now they diagnose you with cancer, they may have failed to meet the applicable standard care the first time, and that’s a form of medical negligence.
A delayed cancer diagnosis can hurt you in different ways. You should get legal help to protect your rights and receive the compensation you deserve.