Pancreatic Cancer Awareness and Compensation for Late Diagnosis
November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, raising the profile of this life-threatening and time-sensitive illness. Late diagnosis may justify a claim for compensation if the long-term outcome is poor.
Negligence in pancreatic cancer diagnosis
As with all cancers, early diagnosis is key to the best outcome. Unfortunately, pancreatic cancer is sometimes associated with a delayed diagnosis, thereby potentially compromising the patient's long-term survival.
If this distressing outcome could have been avoided with more timely and competent medical attention, it may be possible to claim compensation for the consequences for the patient, their family and their quality of life.
Factors contributing to a delay in diagnosis or a misdiagnosis, and which might be regarded as possibly negligent could include the following:
- Failing to consider that the patient's symptoms, such as weight loss and abdominal pain, might be indicative of pancreatic cancer
- Failing to carry out a thorough assessment of the patient for any other signs, symptoms and risk factors, such as being overweight or being a smoker
- Failing to refer the patient for appropriate further testing such as blood tests and scans, or making a delayed referral
- A delay in carrying out tests, a delay in reporting results or a misinterpretation of results, thereby allowing the patient's condition to worsen before an accurate diagnosis is achieved.
Claiming compensation
If failings in medical care or a failure to adhere to the pancreatic cancer pathway and referral guidelines leave a patient suffering a worse outcome than should have been the case with an acceptable level of care, it may be possible to make a claim for compensation.
A successful claim would incorporate the consequences of the negligence such as a loss of earnings, insofar as this has been caused by the negligence.
Such claims are highly complex and require the attention and expertise of a specialist legal practitioner.
They will obtain copies of your medical records and undertake a thorough investigation of the quality of your medical care in order to identify whether you may have a valid claim. Considerable experience and access to the best medical experts is essential to ensure that this process is carried out scrupulously.
Speak to a legal specialist
If the life of yourself or a loved one has been compromised by what appears to be negligent medical care in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, contact Glynns to speak to a specialist medical negligence solicitor.
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