We depend on our doctors to do what is best for us and that includes monitoring our health, often without question of their diagnoses. However, failure to diagnose certain ailments can have deadly consequences. For a Pitt County woman, her breast cancer went undiagnosed for a very long time and could have cost her life.
The woman was only 30 with no apparent risk factors. Sadly, cancer is indiscriminate and doesn’t pay attention to statistics and she got breast cancer anyway. Women who are under the age of 40 do not think that they are at risk, but this woman claims that she is proof it can happen regardless of age. About three years ago, she found what she described as a ripple in her breast. She went to see her doctor, who assured her that it was nothing to be concerned about.
Nearly a year after that, she discovered a lump under her arm and was told that they were cysts from her new pregnancy. She soon had a miscarriage, but the lump did not go away. While watching television, she saw a television doctor speaking on the subject of women being misdiagnosed, which prompted her to get a mammogram. The mammogram discovered that she did, indeed, have breast cancer.
Misdiagnosis of cancers or other ailments are uncommon; as doctors generally seem to do everything they can to prevent that from happening. Regardless, doctor errors do happen and can have dire consequences.
If someone finds themselves in a similar situation, they may consider seeking one of many attorneys in Pitt County that have experience handling misdiagnoses. They may be able to reach a financial compensation claim to help with the undue pain and suffering caused by a doctor’s mistake.
Source: The WBTV, “30-year old Charlotte woman’s breast cancer is misdiagnosed,” Molly Grantham, Sept. 16, 2011