Why Errors By Your Doctor Could Lead to A Delay In The Detection Of Your Breast Cancer
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-09-01 11:12:57 | Word Count: 688
There are two mistakes that physicians are most prone to making that might hold up the diagnosis of a woman's breast cancer - (1) not performing any diagnostic testing to rule out cancer when a lump is felt in the breast and (2) misinterpreting a mammogram. Should a doctor make either of these errors and in doing so delays the diagnosis of the cancer until it metastasizes, the woman may have a lawsuit for medical malpractice. The first most likely mistake made by doctors is not to order a diagnostic test in the event that a woman says that she noticed a lump in the course of a self-conducted breast examination or the physician detects the lump while performing a routine clinical breast examination. A number of physicians will assure the woman she has only a benign cyst, particularly if the patient is under forty and does not have a of breast cancer in her family.
But, while the majority of new cases of breast cancer occur in women more than fifty years old, younger women can, and are, diagnosed with breast cancer every day. Further, a doctor cannot rule out the existence of cancer just by conducting a clinical breast examination. This is why a physician should order diagnostic testing in order to establish if the mass is cancerous. Among the tests that can be ordered are a mammogram, a biopsy or an aspiration.
[ advertisement ]
If the patient does have breast cancer, the failure to order diagnostic testing can result in the growth and spread of the cancer.
The other most likely error made by doctors is to misread a mammogram. Mammograms are taken to scan the breast for abnormalities that might be due to cancer. The mammogram makes images of the inside of the breast with low dose x-rays of the woman's compressed breast. The ensuing images are then reviewed by doctors for the presence of any structures or changes that might be cancerous.
Unfortunately, doctors occasionally overlook what is basically in front of them. At times physicians overlook an abnormal structure or change that turns up in the mammogram. In some other cases, physicians incorrectly diagnose an abnormality as benign without ordering further tests like a biopsy to exclude the possibility of cancer.
By making either error a doctor might be responsible for a delay in the diagnosis of the woman's breast cancer. The longer the detection of breast cancer is delayed, the more likely it is that the cancer will spread and reach an advanced stage. If the cancer spreads, the treatment options for the woman are more restricted. Furthermore, the woman's 5-year survival rate, the chance she has of surviving the cancer for five years or more, even with treatment, lessens considerably.
Once the cancer advances to the third stage, the survival rate drops to fifty-five percent and by the fourth stage it is only approximately twenty percent. If the cancer had been detected early, the 5-year survival rate would have been over 80 percent, perhaps even above 95% if it had been detected sufficiently early.
Medical mistakes can have tragic effects. This is especially so for women with cancer. The delay in diagnosis might end in the need for a mastectomy, limited treatment possibilities, and in some cases, can be even lead to the death of the woman. When this happens, medical errors such as the ones discussed in this article may constitute medical malpractice.
The law limits the amount of time a victim of medical malpractice and her family have in which to pursue any resulting legal claim(s). Consequently, should you suspect that you or a family member have been the victim of medical malpractice, you should contact an attorney right away.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting catastrophic injury cases. Learn about advanced breast cancer and other cancer matters including advanced colon cancer visit the websites
