subject: How Doctors May Miss That A Patient Has Breast Cancer Until It Is Too Late [print this page] How Doctors May Miss That A Patient Has Breast Cancer Until It Is Too Late
There are 2 mistakes that doctors are most likely to make that might hold up the diagnosis of a female patient'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. If a physician makes either of these mistakes and thus delays the diagnosis of the cancer until it metastasizes, the woman may have a lawsuit for malpractice. The first most common mistake made by physicians is not to order a diagnostic test when a female patient informs the doctor that she noticed a lump during a self-conducted breast examination or the physician detects the lump during a screening clinical breast examination. Certain doctors will inform the woman that this is just a noncancerous cyst, especially if she is younger than 40 and does not have a of breast cancer in her family.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that most new instances of breast cancer happen in females older than 50, younger women can, and are, diagnosed with breast cancer every day. Additionally, a physician cannot determine, using only a clinical breast examination, if a mass in the breast is a benign cyst or is cancer. Because of this , a physician should order diagnostic testing so as to figure out whether the mass is cancerous. Among the tests that can be ordered are a mammogram, a biopsy or an aspiration.
If the patient does have breast cancer, not recommending diagnostic testing can result in the metastasis of the cancer.
The second error made by physicians is to misread a mammogram. Doctors use mammograms to examine structures in the breast that might be cancerous. The mammogram generates images of the inside of the breast by using x-rays of the patient's compressed breast. The ensuing images are then studied by physicians for the existence of any structures or changes that might be cancerous.
However, doctors sometimes miss what is literally in front of them. Sometimes physicians overlook an abnormal structure or change that appears in the mammogram. Other times, physicians wrongly diagnose an abnormality as harmless without ordering any diagnostic examination such as a biopsy to exclude the possibility of cancer.
By making either error a doctor might be responsible for a delay in the detection 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. When the cancer becomes advanced, the treatment possibilities available to the woman are more limited. Furthermore, the woman's 5-year survival rate, the probability that she will be alive at least five years after her diagnosis, even with treatment, decreases drastically.
At Stage III, it is roughly 55%. By Stage IV, it can be as low as 20%. If the cancer had been detected early, the 5-year survival rate would have been over eighty percent, possibly even over ninety five percent if it had been diagnosed sufficiently early.
Medical mistakes can lead to tragic effects. This is particularly true for women with cancer. Any hold up to the detection of the cancer can lead to the loss of the breast, reduced treatment options, and in some cases, can be even lead to the death of the woman. Under such circumstances, medical errors like the ones discussed in this article may amount to medical malpractice.
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