Mammograms have been a widely used screening tool to detect breast cancer for decades; the US Centers for Disease Control currently recommends all women between the ages of 40 and 74 get a mammogram screening every two years. There’s solid evidence that mammography has been effective in catching–and therefore treating–cancers in women over the age of 50. That said, mammograms are not entirely accurate, sometimes failing to detect a cancer, allowing it to progress to more advanced stages.
Our New York medical malpractice team at Buttafuoco & Associates have seen cases where missed diagnoses are the result of negligence on the part of the medical team, constituting medical malpractice. This means that if your breast cancer is diagnosed late because of a false negative on a mammogram, you may be entitled to compensation.
In this article, we’ll discuss the danger of a missed or delayed diagnosis due to a false negative and when these false negatives become grounds for medical malpractice claim.
What is the Danger of a Missed or Delayed Diagnosis?
The main danger of a false negative mammogram reading is a delayed diagnosis. One of the main advantages of regular mammogram screenings is that you can catch breast cancer early when it’s highly treatable; according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, breast cancer detected at an early stage has a 99% survival rate.
A false negative can allow a cancer to progress, leading to serious consequences, including:
- Lower chance of survival at more advanced stages
- More invasive treatments with severe side-effects
- Higher medical costs for more complex treatments
When is a False Negative a Medical Malpractice Claim?
Not every false negative is a medical malpractice case. According to our legal team at Buttafuoco & Associates, any medical malpractice claim in New York requires the existence of all four of the following elements:
- Duty of Care: A physician or other medical professional must be treating you as a patient. This means that they are obliged to provide treatment following recognized medical standards.
- Breach of Duty: This means that the medical professional failed to provide the standard level of care to you as a patient.
- Causation: This breach of the Duty of Care must be directly linked to a specific harm. In the case of a false negative, this likely means a delayed diagnosis and allowing the cancer to progress.
- Damages: There must be specific losses documented as a result, such as pain and suffering, lost wages, or medical bills.
Often it’s unclear whether a delayed diagnosis constitutes negligence; our medical malpractice attorneys in New York make use of expert testimony and deep legal expertise to pursue your rights.
Examples of Negligence Leading to Mammogram False Negatives
According to our medical malpractice lawyers serving New York, some of the most common examples of negligence in mammogram false negatives include:
- Misreading the scan: If there is a clear visual indication of cancer on the mammography scan, and a reasonably competent physician could have identified it, it may constitute malpractice.
- Technical Errors: These occur most often when a scan is not taken properly, leading to poor rendering of the image. This may be the result of poor technique or positioning on the part of the technician.
- Failing to account for physical symptoms: Sometimes the patient’s physical symptoms can provide meaningful information for properly reading a mammography scan.
- Failing to compare past images: In some contexts, it would be standard practice to compare to images from previous scans. This can help identify changes that could indicate the development of a cancer.
- Communication Errors: A medical team–including radiologic technologists, nurses, and physicians–must communicate effectively to ensure accurate diagnoses. Failure to do so may constitute negligence.
- Clerical or Bureaucratic Errors: Paperwork errors are still prevalent in the age of Electronic Health Records, and they can have serious consequences for your health.
If you suspect that you or a loved one’s cancer was allowed to progress because of a false negative on a mammogram, do not hesitate to reach out to a New York medical malpractice lawyer.
Call 1-800-NOW-HURT for a free consultation with Buttafuoco & Associates.
