Delayed Diagnosis

Doctors are sometimes unable to diagnose what ails and individual on the first attempt. While it is legitimate for a doctor to go through a number of potential causes of ailments before arriving at the end result, there is a problem when a doctor misinterprets the results of tests to get to whatever faulty diagnosis he or she makes and delays the actual diagnosis.

It has been suggested by a number of recent studies that more than 12% of all cancer patients in the United States are initially misdiagnosed as having something other than cancer. This delay results in repeat testing, treatment delays, an increase in health care costs, and patient anxiety over not knowing what is wrong.

In the recent studies conducted by a joint team of Canadian, Chinese, and American researchers, inaccurate reading of lab results combined with improper tissue and blood sampling procedures were found to be the twin culprits of delayed cancer diagnosis and misdiagnosis.

US hospitals and the entire healthcare industry are quick to point out that the delays in diagnosis that occur because of any reason are not a cause of significant changes in the patient’s health or prognosis. While this may be true in some cases, there are some forms of cancer where time is of the essence. Delaying treatment for even a small amount of time can play a significant role in the prognosis.

Another problem with delayed diagnosis is that it gives the cancer the opportunity to spread or progress from one stage to the next, making successful treatment that much more difficult.

Contact a Philadelphia Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you have been subjected to increased or more invasive treatments for cancer because of a delayed diagnosis, contact the Philadelphia medical malpractice lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., at 215-238-1130.