Failure to Diagnose Leads to Cancer Spreading to Lungs
Many times, we look at medical malpractice with a linear focus that includes only physician mistakes and surgical mistakes. However, failure to diagnose is a form of medical malpractice that is just as prevalent as others, and as The Lima News reports, one that can have devastating consequences.
When one patient developed pain and lost her range of motion in her left knee, she simply assumed it was from running. She eventually went to Sports Clinic at the Orthopedic Institute of Ohio in Lima and met with a Dr. Joseph Mission.
Mission ordered X-rays of her left knee, and an abnormality was revealed in the bone that created a concern about it possibly being cancer.
Mission then ordered an MRI, but of the wrong knee, which revealed no problems.
Dr. Mission then diagnosed and treated the patient’s left knee based on the MRI from the uninjured knee. Later, the patient sought treatment from Dr. Paul Favorito in Cincinnati. Favorito conducted his own examination and discovered the abnormality in the bone, but again reviewed and relied on the previous MRI of the wrong knee when he diagnosed and treated the patient.
Through the course of multiple follow-ups, the two doctors repeated the same mistakes.
When the patient sought out another evaluation, a different doctor spotted the abnormality and sent her to an orthopedic tumor specialist, who then sent her to an oncologist that retuned a diagnosis of osteosarcoma of her left leg bone.
By this point, the tumor had dramatically increased in size, and the cancer had spread to her lungs, becoming a stage III cancer.
The patient alleges that the seven months it took to properly diagnose her condition dropped her chances of long term survival from 70 percent to 30 percent after the cancer spread to her lungs.
This case shows the harsh realities of what a failure to diagnose can result in. Fortunately, she is still alive to file a lawsuit with a medical malpractice attorney, and hopefully she can be properly compensated for such serious medical errors.
Shapiro Law Group – Medical Malpractice Attorneys Serving the Tampa Bay Area
