Being diagnosed with cancer is always a frightening and life-altering experience. Thanks to the tireless work of medical researchers over the years, many forms of cancer are treatable with few or no long-term effects if they’re caught early enough. However, identifying cancer in its early stages is something only a qualified and dedicated medical professional can do—and unfortunately, not every doctor can be trusted to be as responsible with this kind of diagnosis as they should be.
If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer that wasn’t detected by your doctors as early as it should’ve been, you should make contacting a Bensalem cancer misdiagnosis lawyer one of your top priorities. You may be owed substantial civil compensation for the harm your doctors unfairly allowed you to suffer. Representation from a respected medical malpractice lawyer will be vital to getting paid everything you deserve.
How Negligence Can Lead to Cancer Being Misdiagnosed
Part of what makes diagnosing cancer so complicated is the fact that many forms of early-stage cancer look a lot like other less dangerous diseases in terms of the symptoms they cause. Furthermore, doctors generally won’t assume something is cancer without first ruling out all other possibilities. It’s not uncommon for a patient to go through a battery of tests and examinations before being formally diagnosed with cancer.
Doctors are expected to abide by a standard of care that requires them to act quickly, intelligently, and with their patients’ best interests in mind at all times. A doctor may hold civil liability for harm caused by cancer if they failed to diagnose that cancer in a timely fashion due to something like:
- Ignoring or dismissing a patient’s reported symptoms
- Not ordering appropriate tests based on the patient’s symptoms
- Misinterpreting test results
- Diagnosing someone with the wrong disease—or the wrong form of cancer—through inexperience
In these kinds of scenarios, a Bensalem cancer misdiagnosis attorney can help demand civil compensation for losses caused by that doctor’s misconduct.
What Filing Time Limits Apply to Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims?
Just like it is important to get diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible after developing any form of cancer, it is also important to take legal action quickly after discovering a doctor has misdiagnosed your cancer. Not only does every second count when it comes to minimizing the physical harm that your improper diagnosis may cause you, but you also only have a limited amount of time under Pennsylvania law to sue the doctor who allowed you to be harmed.
More specifically, courts rarely allow personal injury lawsuits to proceed if they don’t formally begin within two years of when the person actually sustained harm. With cancer misdiagnosis claims in particular, a Bensalem lawyer can sometimes help argue that your two-year filing period should start from the moment you first discovered that you received the wrong diagnosis, thanks to something called the discovery rule.
Consider Working with a Bensalem Cancer Misdiagnosis Attorney
You should never accept any kind of mistreatment from your doctor that leads to you suffering avoidable harm, especially if that mistreatment leads to you not getting the right diagnosis for a life-threatening condition like cancer. Unfortunately, even if you know you’ve suffered serious harm specifically because of a physician’s negligence, you may have a hard time holding them legally accountable for their actions if you try to file suit on your own.
Working closely with a Bensalem cancer misdiagnosis lawyer will dramatically improve your chances of getting paid everything you deserve for your damages. Call Ostroff Godshall Injury and Accident Lawyers today to discuss your recovery options.
