Cancer Negligence

Cancer is known to be a leading cause of death globally and will certainly be a challenging time for the sufferer and family. Things can become even more precarious when it is not diagnosed early enough as a result of negligence by the medical professionals in charge. Therefore, for a patient to recover fully, the condition has to be diagnosed and treated in its early stage.

Cancer negligence claims are made by the patient when negligence by medical professionals in the management of their cancer condition leads to further harm, trauma and suffering for the patient. Cancer negligence claims can thus arise as a result of cancer wrong diagnosis, delay in making the right diagnosis or delay in commencing treatment.

It is therefore very important that medical professionals diagnose the cancer condition early enough so that the number of avoidable deaths due to cancer negligence will be reduced to the bare minimum.

UK statistics on cancer misdiagnosis has shown that cancer is the second most common cause of death as approximately 164,000 people died of cancer between 2016 and 2018.

Furthermore, about 22% of the 356,000 people diagnosed with cancer in 2018 only became aware of their condition when they visited the Accident and Emergency department. Cancer currently causes more than one in four deaths in the UK and every four minutes, someone dies of cancer in the UK.

The issue of cancer misdiagnosis claims and cancer negligence claims have become a thing of great importance given that researches have shown that at least one in five cancer patients in the UK received the correct diagnosis of their condition only after more than six months. With about 95,000 cancer surgeries carried out every year, medical experts believe that there could be about 5,000 more deaths for a three-month cancer diagnosis delay and about 11,000 more deaths for a six-month delay.

Recently, there are more cases of cancer misdiagnosis than before, especially as cancer is becoming prevalent in the UK. While working clients, our team of medical negligence experts have discovered that most times when a patient visits their GP, they fail to recognise that the symptoms presented may be a sign of cancer but easily dismiss them as nothing sinister; this ultimately leads to a delay in the patient being referred to a specialist for proper examination, meaning that there is an unfortunate and disastrous delay in making a correct diagnosis and proper treatment.

According to the NHS, when you experience changes that are unusual to your body's normal processes, as well as unexplained symptoms, these can sometimes be early signs of cancer and need to be checked by a doctor before making conclusions; such changes could include lumps that suddenly appear on your body, unexplained bleeding, or changes to your bowel habits. The NHS however also adds that, in many cases, some of these symptoms will not be related to cancer and will be caused by other, non-cancerous health conditions.

This explains why cases of cancer misdiagnosis continue to rise regrettably as there are many other illnesses and diseases that mimic the signs of cancer but are actually not leaving medical practitioners who don’t carry out the appropriate confirmatory tests for cancer, puzzled, until sometimes, it is all too late.

An increase in the number of cancer misdiagnoses means an increase in the mortality rate in cancer patients, which invariably means an increase in cancer negligence claims even as the NHS will have to make more payments in settlements for negligence.

Therefore, if you or your loved one has suffered trauma or a worsened cancer condition as a result of cancer misdiagnosis, our cancer misdiagnosis solicitors can assist you with cancer negligence claims. We will ensure that you receive the right legal counsel you need to pursue your cancer negligence claims as well as explain to you in clear and simple terms what the cancer negligence claims process involves and support you in whatever way you require during the difficult period to get a deserved compensation.

Cancer Misdiagnosis

Cancer misdiagnosis describes a situation where a medical professional fails to accurately spot and diagnose a cancer condition.

It also refers to situations where patients are falsely diagnosed with cancer when they are actually free thereby subjecting such an individual to emotional and psychological trauma. Cancer misdiagnosis also refers to when a patient is wrongly made to believe that they are free from the cancer disease without the proper tests meaning that all forms of treatment are stopped only for the condition to unfortunately resurface more aggressively.

Medical professionals can be negligent and fail to refer their patients to a specialist for further medical examination or recommend further tests even when initial tests suggest the existence of cancer. Cancer misdiagnosis generally has devastating effects on the sufferer.

In situations such as these, the individual is legally entitled to make cancer negligence claims.

Cancer Negligence Claims We Undertake Include:

• Bowel Cancer Negligence Claims
• Breast Cancer Negligence Claims
• Brain cancer Negligence Claims
• Throat Cancer Negligence Claims
• Cervical Cancer Negligence Claims
• Pancreatic Cancer Negligence Claims
• Prostate Cancer Negligence Claims
• Renal Cancer Negligence Claims
• Liver Cancer Negligence Claims
• Bladder Cancer Negligence Claims
• Lung Cancer Negligence Claims
• Lymphoma Negligence Claims
• Bone Cancer Negligence Claims
• Skin Cancer Negligence Claims
• Ovarian Cancer Negligence Claims
• Testicular Cancer Negligence Claims

WHY DOES CANCER MISDIAGNOSIS OCCUR?

There are several reasons why cancer misdiagnosis takes place. For instance, the NHS has issues of inadequate budget and understaffing which has led to the closure of some medical centres impacting the level of healthcare delivery provided. The Covid-19 pandemic has not helped issues as it has received priority even over other serious medical conditions. Patient waiting time for appointments and tests have thus increased to devastating effects

In despite of these, the major reasons for misdiagnosis of cancer are

Human Error

Human mistakes lead to cancer misdiagnosis and can occur in the following ways.

• A medical professional incorrectly reads or misinterprets a test or scan result thus informing the patient that he or she is free from cancer. This will surely lead to a delay in the required treatment and will adversely affect the individual.
• Human errors could also occur when a medical professional fails to refer the patient for further confirmatory tests or takes too long to do so even after a particular test result suspects a risk of cancer.
• Human mistakes can also arise when healthcare professionals are time-pressured. Although targets are there to improve the quality of healthcare delivery, medical practitioners may not be dutiful in giving adequate attention as required to their patients which will lead to mistakes and misdiagnosis.

Cases of Similar Symptoms

Doctors have been known to dismiss some reported signs and symptoms as nothing serious because other less serious medical conditions can have those same signs and symptoms. This has however meant that most cancer conditions were not diagnosed early enough.

As an example, breast cancer suffered by one in eight women in the world according to statistics may be misdiagnosed as a benign cyst. Furthermore, lung cancer may present symptoms that are similar to other forms of respiratory conditions. Patients may then be incorrectly diagnosed with asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, tuberculosis or pleurisy.

Also, pancreatic cancer may be misdiagnosed as pancreatitis or irritable bowel syndrome. This further buttresses the point that medical professionals ought to be vigilant and perform all necessary tests before making a diagnosis.

Medical reports have also indicated that cancer misdiagnosis can have serious negative impacts on the mental health of the patient involved. Women given an “all-clear” when they actually have cancer (false-positives) have reported greater negative psychosocial consequences when compared with women who were diagnosed with cancer correctly.

This impact on a patient’s psychological wellbeing in addition to the physical effects of the cancer condition on a patient’s body, makes the subject of cancer negligence claims an issue of great importance.

REASONS FOR CANCER NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS

• Cancer Misdiagnosis- this is where a patient is wrongly diagnosed with cancer or diagnosed with a less serious condition meaning that the patient is subjected to wrong or unnecessary treatment. Cancer misdiagnosis also refers to a condition where the medical professional completely misses the cancer condition (missed diagnosis).
• Delay in Making the Correct Diagnosis- This means that the cancer condition is finally discovered at a later stage than when it should have been discovered perhaps as a result of your GP’s error in interpreting scan results or failing to refer you to a specialist for proper examination. Delays will lead to more aggressive treatment than would have been necessary if the problem had been diagnosed much earlier. Delay in making the correct diagnosis can be catastrophic as it greatly affects the quality of life and life expectancy of the individual.
• Poor Analysis of Treatment Progress- an example of this is when the medical professional makes the mistake of telling the patient that he is free from cancer meaning that further treatment is not needed when cancerous cells are still present. The cancer would no doubt begin to spread again and this may only be discovered at a terminal stage.

Commonly Misdiagnosed Cancers include:

• Breast Cancer
• Lymphoma
• Bone Cancer
• Lung Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Testicular Cancer

In the UK, in 2017, lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancer accounted for almost 50% of all cancer deaths.

The Cancer Negligence Claims Procedure

The processes involved in making a cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims are outlined below;

• Contact your Lawyer
• Fund Your Claim
• Gather your Evidence
• Submit your letter of claim
• Negotiations
• Payment of Settlement Fee

Contact Your Lawyer

Our Cancer Negligence Solicitors are specialists in dealing with a wide range of cancer misdiagnosis claims. Therefore, We encourage you to speak with us as soon as possible if your condition was negligently handled. Our consultation sessions are free of charge where we will carefully listen to your story and if we are convinced that there is a strong case of cancer negligence, we will advise you on how to proceed with your claims.

Fund Your Claim

After a thorough evaluation of the details of your claim, the next stage is to fund your claim. This is important to help us facilitate the legal process, access relevant documents which will for our evidence as well as take care of other legal fees. The various funding types available include;

• Legal Aid
• Legal Expenses Or Before The Event Insurance (BTE)
• Conditional Fee Agreements (No Win No Fee Agreements)
• Trade Union Funding
• Private Funding

Gathering Your Evidence

The next step will be to gather documents and facts to substantiate your claim. These documents include your detailed statements, witness statements, financial losses incurred, tests, scans and photographs. Our solicitors can help you gather as much evidence you need to corroborate your cancer negligence claims.

Submit Your Letter of Claim

After careful investigations, we will write a letter of claim on your behalf to the defendant (NHS or GP) who will make their own investigations and give us a response. Our aim of doing this is to get the defendant to accept liability.

Negotiations

We will commence negotiations with the other party in earnest. We will also register your claims before a court; this does not mean that you will go to court or stand trial before a judge, but it is important to do this to help both parties meet agreed deadlines.

As soon as the defendant accepts liability, we can secure interim payments on your behalf so that you will not be financially distressed in any way. This interim payment also enables you to access the required medical care.

If the defendant denies any wrongdoing and both parties are unable to reach an agreement, the matter will be taken to be handled by a judge.

We are however pleased to say that we have a strong record of settling cases quickly without having to go to court. In fact, over 90% of all cases we have handled have been settled out of court.

Payment of Settlement Fee

On acceptance of liability, both parties will reach an agreement for compensation. This is determined by the type and severity of harm done, future prognosis, incurred financial losses as well as other damages caused as a result of the misdiagnosis.

We boast a strong record of being able to settle medical negligence claims in the shortest possible time and with the best settlement payouts for our clients. Do not hesitate to reach out to us.

No Win No Fee Cancer Negligence Solicitors In The UK

At NHS negligence claims, we undertake the majority of our medical claims cases under a No Win No Fee policy- cancer negligence claims are no exception to this. This means that you are protected from any financial risks while making your claims.

You are protected from paying any legal fees before or during the entire claims process. You will not also be expected to pay us a penny even if the case wasn’t unsuccessful.

Furthermore, when your case is successful, you will be required to pay a success fee of 25% which will be withdrawn from your total compensation amount.

How Much Compensation Can I Sue For Cancer Negligence?

There are many cancer negligence claims and each cancer negligence claim has its own peculiar story and level of damage caused to the patient. This also means that the compensation values will differ. The average payout for NHS cancer negligence is about £350,000. Our specialist cancer misdiagnosis claims lawyers will give you a range of what you can expect as settlement for your claims using the cancer misdiagnosis claims calculator.

The value of medical negligence cancer payout you can receive depends on various factors which are broadly divided into general damages and special damages.

• General Damages- This refers to compensation that takes into account the extent or severity of the damage caused by the negligence and the impact of such damage. It also includes the level of pain, suffering and trauma the patient has had to endure as a result of the negligence.
• Special Damages- this covers other financial losses incurred as a result of the injury. Special damages also take into account the costs of medical appointments, treatment, loss of earnings, future prognosis, costs of purchasing assistive devices or aids necessary for rehabilitation.

In general, the determinants for a compensation award are:-

• type and location of injury
• severity of the injury
• damages caused by the injury
• financial losses as a result of the injury
• estimated time for recovery if possible
• fees and travel expenses for medical appointments
• cost of rehabilitation including buying mobility aids and assistive devices
• cost of hiring caregivers where the effect of the damage means that the individual is unable to carry out basic functions unaided.
• Accommodation costs especially if the individual must modify or entirely move out to another place to suit thire present condition.

Compensation values can fall anywhere between £1,000 to several millions of pounds depending on the above factors mentioned. However, the average medical negligence compensation fee is £50,000.