Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial cancer originates in the cells of the lining of the uterus, which is the pelvic organ where fetal development happens. Symptoms of endometrial cancer can include pelvic pain and abnormal vaginal bleeding between periods or after menopause. If your endometrial cancer progressed or if a loved one died due to undiagnosed or untreated endometrial cancer, you should consult the Upstate New York endometrial cancer lawyers at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We are experienced trial attorneys who understand how to establish the right to recover damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.

It can be difficult for doctors to diagnose endometrial cancer. A pelvic exam may not generate abnormal results until the cancer has already progressed. Pap smears are screening tests performed when a patient has a gynecological exam to figure out whether there are any abnormalities. When abnormalities exist, it may be necessary to biopsy tissue or perform a transvaginal hysteroscopy. The less common kinds of endometrial adenocarcinoma, such as clear-cell carcinoma, grow and spread more quickly than other kinds of endometrial cancer do; they may have spread beyond the uterus by the time that a diagnosis is made.

Not every medical error or poor outcome in connection with endometrial cancer constitutes malpractice. To establish medical malpractice in New York, you will need to prove that the defendant owed you a professional duty of care, and the defendant deviated from the professional duty of care, causing damages. In most cases, an endometrial cancer attorney in Upstate New York will need to retain an expert to provide an opinion about what the professional duty of care was, how your health care provider deviated from it, and causation.

The professional duty of care is determined by looking at what other reasonably prudent doctors in the same specialty in Upstate New York would have done when faced with similar patient history and symptoms. For instance, if a reasonably prudent doctor would have conducted a biopsy, but yours did not, and your endometrial cancer progressed and spread to the point that it was much more difficult and expensive to treat, you may be able to establish liability for medical malpractice. Similarly, if a reasonably prudent doctor would have used an aggressive treatment, but your spouse’s doctor elected instead to wait, and as a result she died, you may have a medical malpractice wrongful death claim.

In some cases, multiple health care providers are at fault for medical malpractice. When two or more people or entities are jointly and severally liable for medical malpractice, each can be held independently liable with the assistance of an Upstate New York endometrial cancer attorney for the full scope of economic damages arising out of it. For instance, if your mother’s abnormal results were not accurately assessed by her gynecologist, and then when another gynecologist referred your mother to an oncologist, she was not given proper treatment, both the original gynecologist and the oncologist might bear some responsibility for the harm that she sustained.

Compensatory damages are intended to make you “whole.” In other words, they should put you back in the position in which you would have been had there been no malpractice. They can include both economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses may include medical bills, lost income, and out-of-pocket expenses. Non-economic losses may include pain and suffering, lost earning capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.

When you see a doctor, you hope to be treated in accordance with professional standards. Unfortunately, some doctors make mistakes that have serious long-term consequences. If you were harmed as a result of undiagnosed or untreated endometrial cancer and believe that there may have been medical malpractice, you should discuss your situation with the attorneys at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. The endometrial cancer lawyers at our Upstate New York firm represent patients in Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Utica, Lyons, Oswego, Cooperstown, Oneida, Auburn, Binghamton, Wampsville, Canandaigua, Watertown, Elmira, Herkimer, and Lowville. Call DeFrancisco & Falgiatano at 833-200-2000 or complete our online form.