Possible Error Doctor Carry On Delayed Diagnosis Of Breast Cancer Patient A

There are two mistakes that doctors are most likely to make that can delay a woman's breast cancer diagnosis - failure to order diagnostic tests to rule out cancer when a lump is felt in the breast and misinterpret a mammogram. If the doctor makes a mistake and thus lift the diagnosis of cancer to spread, women may have a claim for malpractice. The first error is most likely made by a physician is not to order diagnostic tests after a woman complained that she found a lump during breast self-examination or a doctor do to detect breast masses while performing a routine clinical examination. Some doctors will inform the woman he is nothing more than a benign cyst, especially when she is under 40 and do not have breast cancer in her family.

Unfortunately, although the majority of new cases of breast cancers arise in women older than fifty, young women can, and, being diagnosed with breast cancer every day. Furthermore, it is impossible to determine, using only clinical breast examination, either in the breast mass is benign or cancerous cyst. Therefore, doctors should recommend that a diagnostic test to determine whether the mass is cancerous. Among the tests that can be ordered is a mammogram, biopsy or aspiration.

If the patient does not have breast cancer, failure to follow up with diagnostic tests may lead to the growth and spread of cancer.

The second mistake made by doctors is to misread mammograms. Mammograms are used to scan the breast for abnormalities that may be cancerous. Mammogram creates pictures of the breast with a low dose x-ray of compressed breast patients. The resulting image is then examined by a doctor for the existence of any structure or changes that may be cancerous.

Unfortunately, physicians in some cases ignore what is right in front of them. Sometimes doctors miss abnormalities that appear on the mammogram. Other times, doctors do not properly diagnose cancer without the disorder did not order any diagnostic tests, for example, a biopsy to rule out the possibility of cancer.

One of the mistakes that can result in delays in the diagnosis of her cancer. The longer detect breast cancer is delayed, the greater the likelihood that the cancer will spread and reach an advanced stage. If the cancer has spread, treatment options for women is reduced. In addition, he is 5-year survival rate, the possibility that he will live at least five years after diagnosis, even with treatment, reduce considerably.

At the RHE progress to stage three cancer, the survival rate drops to fifty-five percent and the fourth stage was only about twenty percent. Whether the cancer is detected early, survival rates five years will be more than 80 percent, maybe even above the ninety-five percent if it is diagnosed early enough.

Medical errors may have tragic results. This is especially true for individuals with cancer. Any resistance to cancer detection may result in the need mastectomy, limited treatment possibilities, and in some cases, may even cause the death of a woman. In such circumstances, the error as discussed in this article may be malpractice.