A delayed diagnosis is one of the more common reasons for a medical malpractice suit, because it can mean that the results of the ailment are more detrimental to the person’s health than they should have been. For example, if a cancer diagnosis had been made on time, the cancer may have been treated and beaten at only one location, but a failure to diagnose the cancer at the proper time could cause it to spread. This could lead to far longer treatments, it could mean the cancer can’t be overcome, and it could even mean that a survivable condition could turn terminal.
While all of this does seem fairly straightforward, it’s important to remember that this can be hard to prove. One of the issues can be with establishing exactly when the cancer began to spread.
When cancer moves between organs, it’s called metastasis. For those with the disease, the argument could be that metastasis happened after the initial checkup. They could claim the doctor missed the cancer originally and allowed metastasis to become an issue.
However, a doctor may then claim that micrometastasis had already happened. This is when cancer spreads at the cellular level. Some experts note that this can happen a decade before a tumor would ever show up. The doctor will then claim that there was no way to stop the spread of the disease, even if the diagnosis had been made at the proper time.
Since this is a complicated process, it’s crucial to understand what type of evidence you may need, what legal options you have, and how the testimony of medical experts can help your case in Ohio.
Source: FindLaw, “Failed/Erroneous Diagnosis and Treatment,” accessed Oct. 04, 2016