Failure to diagnose Breast Cancer

Published on: March 31, 2020

Missed and delayed diagnoses, a major patient safety concern

Missed and delayed diagnoses are common medical errors that can lead to serious injury and death. This morning the Daily Mail wrote about an 11 year old boy who died from severe bowel obstruction after a doctor misdiagnosed him with constipation and sent him back home. The doctor neglected to send him for an X-ray despite symptoms consistent with bowel obstruction.

Failure to diagnose or delay to diagnose a medical condition occur so often that the ECRI institute ranked this type of medical malpractice its number one concern out of its Top 10 Patients Safety Concern in 2020.

In the US it is estimated that 12 million adults or 1 out of 20 patients are misdiagnosed every year

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Published on: May 4, 2018

NYC Medical Malpractice Attorney Jeff Bloom to Chair the NYSBA “Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer” Program

By GGCRBHS&M

Our partner, New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer Jeffrey Bloom, will be the Program Chair of the “Failure to Diagnose Breast Cancer” seminar organized by the New York State Bar Association. Richard Steigman who is also a partner at our firm will be a speaker and will provide an Overview of the Governing Laws related to such cases.

During this seminar participants will learn how to handle the failure to diagnose breast cancer medical malpractice case. Featuring nationally recognized medical experts in oncology and cancer detection, the morning session will cover the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of breast cancer and provide attendees with an understanding of the medical background necessary to handle these cases. During the afternoon portion of the program leading medical malpractice trial attorneys will present an overview of case selection, trial strategies and the art of explaining technical medical concepts to jurors.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about this area of law.

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Published on: October 31, 2016

Early diagnosis is key to successfully fighting breast cancer

By GGCRBHS&M

Failure to diagnose breast cancer at an early stage or delay in treating breast cancer early can have deadly consequences. Early detection of the disease through regular screening such as mammogram is essential for every woman over 40 year old. According to Cancer.net, women who are diagnosed when the cancer is located only in the breast have an almost 100% chance to survive for at least 5 years. If the cancer is detected after it spread to the regional lymph nodes, the 5 year-survival rate is 85%. A woman diagnosed with breast cancer that spread to another part of her body has a 26% chance to survive more than 5 years.

Statistics also indicate that only 61% of breast cancers are diagnosed at an early stage. Unfortunately, despite campaigns such as the Breast Cancer Awareness Month that ended Yesterday, too many women over 40 years old are still not getting regular mammogram. 29% of women who have health insurance and should be screened are still not doing it. Among women who do not have health insurance, as many as 68% of them are not getting mammograms. Not having an insurance is not an excuse for not getting regular mammograms. In every city, charitable organizations offer free screenings for women who can’t afford to pay for them. In New York our firm is sponsoring free mammography vans through the Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert.

FAILURE TO DIAGNOSE BREAST CANCER CAN BE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

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Published on: July 30, 2013

Tomosynthesis (3-D) mammography reduces recall of patients for testing for breast cancer but doesn’t show a significant difference in cancer detection

By GGCRBHS&M

Recalls of patients after a mammogram have an occurrence rate of 12%. It is a very stressful experience for the patient and it adds to diagnostic costs. With tomosynthesis the recall rate can be reduced from 12% to 8% but the breast cancer detection rate doesn’t change significantly according to a new study lead by Dr. Brian Haas and Dr. Liane E. Philpotts, diagnostic radiology department of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and published in the Journal Radiology.

Tomosynthesis allows for three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of the breast tissue. Screening is more accurate because superimposed and overlapping tissue can be removed from the view. The study also indicates that women younger than 50 years old and women with dense breasts are benefiting the most from tomosynthesis.

Published on: May 14, 2013

Failure to diagnose Breast cancer: Women should be informed that Digital direct radiography (DR) is much more effective than Computed radiography (CR) at detecting breast cancer

By GGCRBHS&M

There is a higher rate of failure to diagnose breast cancer among women who are screened using computed radiography compared to women who are screened using digital direct radiography according to a new study lead by Anna M. Chiarelli, Ph.D., senior scientist in Prevention and Cancer Control at Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto, and published online in the journal Radiology.

The study results show that cancer detection with digital mammography that involves direct radiography technology was similar to that with screen film mammography in women aged 50–74 years; however, for computed radiography the risk of cancer detection is significantly lower-by 21%-among all screening techniques.