Certain cancers that occur frequently get significant attention and research money. The pharmaceutical industry invests more in common types of cancer for reasons of profit. However, with types of cancer that are less common, there may be less clear protocols. Doctors may delay diagnosis or treatment. Treatment, when it does come, may not be as effective or reliable. Common cancers include breast cancer, bladder cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, kidney cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and skin cancer. If you were harmed by other types of cancer, you should discuss your situation with the Upstate New York cancer malpractice lawyers at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano.
Types of cancer that are less common include:
Liability in a cancer malpractice case requires your attorney to prove that it is more likely than not that the defendant owed you a professional standard of care, the defendant departed from the professional standard of care, the defendant’s departure caused your harm, and you incurred damages. Generally, the professional standard of care is based on the accepted practices of those who practice in the same specialty and geographic region. A breach of the standard of care could include a failure to take a proper patient history, a failure to conduct a differential diagnosis, misinterpretation of lab results or imaging, a failure to make a timely, accurate diagnosis, performing unnecessary surgery, surgical errors, administration of the wrong medication, provision of insufficient or inappropriate follow-up care, or failing to order a needed test.
Both the stage and the type of cancer should factor into the steps that your doctor takes to treat you. However, your history and other factors may also influence the direction that your care takes and whether your doctor met their professional standard of care. In Stage 1 anal cancer, for example, the cancer has grown into an anal wall, but it has not grown into nearby organs or spread to the lymph nodes. It might be appropriate for a doctor to do a surgical resection to remove the small tumors and follow up with chemotherapy and radiation. However, if anal cancer has already progressed to Stage 3 or 4, the first steps may be to use radiation therapy and chemoradiation. When a doctor fails to treat anal cancer as another oncologist in Upstate New York would have under the same circumstances, there is a risk of death. If your loved one died under these circumstances, it may be appropriate to bring a wrongful death lawsuit.
In most cases, your attorney will need to retain an expert to opine on what the professional standard of care was, how your doctor or other health care provider departed from it, and causation. The expert is often a health care provider who practices in the same area as the defendant provider. For example, if your ocular melanoma was misdiagnosed and therefore not treated properly, we would need to retain an eye cancer expert, such as an ocular oncologist. With the complaint, we would need to file a certificate of merit attesting to our consultation with experts.
DamagesIf we establish liability for medical malpractice regarding a type of cancer, you may be able to recover damages. Usually, damages in these types of cases are compensatory, meaning that they are intended to compensate for specific, provable losses. Economic damages could include lost wages or income, medical bills, out-of-pocket costs, and replacement services. For example, if your child had osteosarcoma, a cancer involving immature bone, but his surgeon made a surgical error so that further surgeries and treatments were needed, it may be appropriate to sue for financial losses, such as medical and out-of-pocket expenses. Non-economic losses could include pain and suffering, loss of consortium, loss of enjoyment of life, and lost earning capacity.
Retain a Cancer Malpractice AttorneyIf you were injured or a loved one died due to a health care provider’s cancer malpractice in Upstate New York, you may be able to sue to recover compensation for your losses. You should talk to the seasoned attorneys at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We represent people in communities such as Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Auburn, Oswego, Lyons, Oneida, Cooperstown, Binghamton, Canandaigua, Wampsville, Watertown, Herkimer, Lowville, Elmira, and Utica. Call our firm at 833-200-2000 or complete our online form.