Lung Cancer

As with several other cancers, lung cancer may be beaten if it is diagnosed and treated early. This form of cancer develops in the tissues of lungs, in the cells along the air passages. It is a cancer that can be small cell or non-small cell, with the latter being more common. If you or a family member was harmed by a doctor’s failure to diagnose or treat lung cancer, you should talk to the Upstate New York lung cancer lawyers at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano.

Important risk factors for lung cancer include smoking and second-hand smoke, as well as jobs involving exposure to uranium, silica, asbestos, arsenic, chromium, beryllium, nickel, cadmium, chloromethyl ether, and radon. Family history is also a risk factor. Symptoms of lung cancer can include chest pain, inexplicable weight loss, appetite loss, breathing difficulties, coughing up blood, recurring pneumonia and bronchitis, and hoarseness. In many cases, a failure to diagnose or treat lung cancer is the fault of a family care provider, radiologist, or oncologist. Many lung cancer cases develop as a result of a delayed diagnosis; there are symptoms, but a health care provider fails to appreciate their significance.

To recover damages for a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose or treat lung cancer, you will need to establish your health care provider’s liability by a preponderance of the evidence. You will need to show that it is more likely than not that your provider owed you a professional standard of care regarding your lung cancer, your provider failed to meet that professional standard, and they thereby caused your injuries and damages.

New York follows the locality rule, whereby the professional standard of care is the accepted standards and practices of other doctors in the same specialty and geographic region. For instance, if a reasonably competent family care doctor in Upstate New York would have ordered tests, but yours did not, a lung cancer attorney in Upstate New York may be able to recover damages for you. Similarly, if a reasonably competent doctor in Upstate New York would have ordered a pulmonary function test and examination of your lung tissue when faced with your symptoms, this may be a breach of the professional standard of care. Likewise, it may be a breach of the professional standard of care if your radiologist fails to comment on abnormalities on initial or subsequent chest X-rays, or fails to properly track an abnormality.

In a cancer malpractice case, it is typically necessary to retain an expert even before filing a lawsuit. The expert can work up the case and determine whether there are meritorious grounds to sue. They may need to provide opinions about what the professional standard of care was, how your doctor breached it, and whether the breach caused your injuries. They will look into whether there were multiple mistakes, such as a mistake in how your oncologist treated your lung cancer, so that your Upstate New York lung cancer attorney can hold all the appropriate parties liable.

Some defendants may raise the argument that a patient’s lung cancer would have worsened regardless of their conduct. Lung cancer malpractice can turn into a battle of experts. We will need to retain a credible expert who can show that your provider’s departure from the accepted standards and practices, rather than the organic progression of the disease, is what caused your harm. The expert should be able to present their opinions about lung cancer malpractice in a clear and simple way that can be readily understood by the laypersons on the jury.

If you were injured or a loved one was killed because of a health care provider’s failure to diagnose or treat lung cancer, you may be able to sue to recover compensation for your losses. You should talk to the seasoned attorneys at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. Our firm handles lawsuits for people in the areas around Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Auburn, Oswego, Lyons, Oneida, Cooperstown, Binghamton, Canandaigua, Wampsville, Watertown, Herkimer, Lowville, Elmira, and Utica. Call us at 833-200-2000 or complete our online form to discuss your situation with a lung cancer lawyer in Upstate New York.