Being told you have cancer when you don’t is a devastating mistake. Patients in this situation often endure chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery for a disease they never had, while the actual condition causing their symptoms goes untreated. In Nevada, a wrongful cancer diagnosis may give rise to a medical malpractice claim, but proving it requires meeting stringent legal standards.
Medical Providers’ Standard of Care in Diagnosis
Every healthcare provider is measured against a benchmark called the standard of care. Essentially, the standard of care is what a reasonably skilled professional in the same specialty and setting would do when presented with a patient experiencing similar symptoms. Meeting it requires gathering a complete patient history, performing thorough exams, and ordering the testing needed to identify or rule out serious conditions like cancer.
Courts and medical experts weigh several factors when judging whether a provider’s actions or inactions constitute medical malpractice. These include:
- Reasonable Competence: Your doctor should bring the training, judgment, and skill expected of someone practicing in their specialty and region.
- Differential Diagnosis: Providers are expected to work through a methodical list of possible explanations for your symptoms, rank them by likelihood, and order tests to confirm or eliminate each.
- Timeliness: Symptoms suggesting a condition that needs urgent treatment require prompt testing and prompt follow-up on the results.
- Referrals: When your condition lies outside a provider’s expertise, they should connect you with a specialist who can provide the care that you require.
When Is a Cancer Misdiagnosis a Form of Medical Malpractice?
A wrongful cancer diagnosis becomes medical malpractice when a provider departs from the standard of care, and that departure causes you actual harm. A departure from the standard of care may look like:
- Misreading pathology slides
- Confusing benign growths or infections for malignancy
- Relying on a single inconclusive test instead of confirming with a biopsy
- Mixing up patient samples or test results in the lab
- Failing to order follow-up imaging when initial scans were unclear
- Skipping a second opinion before recommending aggressive treatment
- Ignoring a patient’s medical history that pointed to a different explanation
The harm typically stems from treatment you never needed, such as surgery that removed healthy tissue or organs, chemotherapy that damaged your body, or radiation with lasting side effects like nerve damage or infertility. On top of that, the real source of your symptoms goes unaddressed, often leading to a worse prognosis.
Damages You May Recover After Being Misdiagnosed with Cancer
A successful medical malpractice claim can compensate you for the financial and personal toll the misdiagnosis has taken on your life. Recoverable damages often include:
- Costs of unnecessary treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation
- Medical bills tied to correcting or managing the resulting harm
- Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
- Pain and suffering tied to the cancer misdiagnosis
- Expenses for treating the actual underlying condition that went unaddressed
- Wrongful death damages if a loved one passed away as a result
Talk to a Medical Malpractice Lawyer About Your Misdiagnosis
Few medical errors are as cruel as being told you have cancer you never had. If unnecessary treatment has left you with physical, financial, or emotional scars, a Las Vegas, Nevada medical malpractice attorney can help you hold the responsible provider accountable. Schedule a free consultation as soon as possible to learn more about your legal options.