Bladder Cancer

The bladder is an organ in the lower abdomen that maintains urine. Bladder cancer originates in the urothelial cells that line the interior of the bladder. Often, bladder cancer is diagnosed early and can be treated successfully. However, there are situations in which a health care provider fails to diagnose or treat bladder cancer within the bounds of the professional standard of care, given the circumstances. If you were harmed by a health care provider’s failure to diagnose or treat your bladder cancer, you may be able to recover damages by bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit. It is crucial to retain counsel who has worked with reputable experts and has experience handling medical malpractice lawsuits arising out of cancer. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, our Upstate New York bladder cancer lawyers may be able to represent you.

Symptoms of bladder cancer include painful urination, frequent urination, back pain, and blood in the urine. Bladder cancer occurs when bladder cells develop mutations in their DNA that may result in rapid multiplication and the formation of a tumor made up of abnormal cells. Sometimes the cancer metastasizes or spreads throughout the body. Early stage bladder cancer may be treated successfully yet recur. Often, bladder cancer requires follow-up tests for years after treatment.

To establish your health care provider’s liability for medical malpractice in connection with your bladder cancer, you must show a professional standard of care, a breach of the professional standard of care, causation, and actual damages. The professional standard of care depends on what other health care providers in the same specialty and geographic region would do when faced with a similar patient and set of symptoms.

A breach could occur while a doctor is trying to make a diagnosis. A bladder cancer attorney in Upstate New York can help you hold a doctor accountable. Doctors who face symptoms of bladder cancer may need to conduct a differential diagnosis. This involves making a list of possible medical conditions that could be causing symptoms and then testing each of the possibilities to eliminate them before determining a diagnosis.

Bladder cancer can be diagnosed with a cystoscopy; this procedure allows tissue to be obtained for a biopsy. A diagnosis of bladder cancer may also require imaging, such as a retrograde pyelogram and ultrasound. If, for example, a reasonably competent doctor in Upstate New York would have referred you to a urologist or oncologist, but your doctor neither conducted testing nor referred you to a specialist, and as a result your bladder cancer worsened and you required more expensive care later, you may have a medical malpractice claim. A breach of the professional standard of care could also involve a failure to treat, an inappropriate treatment, or a medical error during treatment.

Sometimes multiple health care providers, such as a primary care physician and an oncologist, act negligently in their professional roles, combining to create a patient’s injuries. New York follows the rule of joint and several liability with regard to economic damages. This means that your Upstate New York bladder cancer attorney can hold accountable for your full economic losses any of the health care providers who committed medical malpractice in connection with your bladder cancer. However, when a defendant’s percentage of liability is 50% or less, they are only responsible for their actual percentage of fault regarding non-economic damages.

You can recover both economic and non-economic damages if you establish a defendant’s liability for medical malpractice. Economic damages include all concrete, verifiable monetary losses, such as medical expenses, loss of income, and out-of-pocket expenses. Non-economic losses include subjective losses, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and loss of enjoyment of life.

If a loved one died due to a health care provider’s failure to diagnose or treat bladder cancer, you may be able to recover damages in a wrongful death lawsuit.

If you were injured or a loved one was killed as a result of a health care provider’s failure to diagnose or treat bladder cancer, you may be able to sue to recover damages. You should consult the seasoned attorneys at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We represent cancer survivors and families of the deceased in 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 to contact a bladder cancer lawyer in Upstate New York.