How Much Compensation for Misdiagnosis of Cancer?
Claiming Compensation after a Cancer Misdiagnosis
If you have suffered as a result of negligence, you might wonder, how much compensation for misdiagnosis of cancer can I claim?
A cancer misdiagnosis can have devastating effects, and in worst cases it could even end up cutting someone’s life short. If you have suffered as a result of a cancer misdiagnosis we can help you assess how much compensation you are entitled to, helping you focus on your health without any of the financial stress.
If you are a family member of a person recently deceased from cancer, and you believe your loved one suffered unnecessarily due to misdiagnosis from a medical professional, we can likely help you claim compensation too.
Why Cancer Misdiagnosis Occurs
There are a range of reasons why a cancer misdiagnosis could occur. Your medical professional could be too inexperienced, overworked or simply sloppy.
Understaffing is a big issue in many hospitals across the UK. Understaffing leads to medical professionals being stressed and tired, and causes mistakes to become more common. Regardless of the reason for your cancer misdiagnosis, you shouldn’t be left to suffer without help.
We can help you claim compensation on a no win, no fee basis, so you won’t need to worry about any additional financial stress.
Compensation will help you cover any medical costs, time off work, and any adjustments to your home and car should you require these. It also covers any care you have received, even if this is from a family member staying home with you.
Claim for Cancer Misdiagnosis
If you’re suffering as a result of a cancer misdiagnosis, whether you are the patient or a patient’s loved one, we can help you with your compensation claim. Find out how much compensation you can claim for misdiagnosis of cancer.
What are the Effects of Cancer Misdiagnosis?
If you’re lucky, your misdiagnosis will be caught and rectified quickly, having little to no effect on your health and wellbeing. However, for some people a misdiagnosis can go unnoticed for months, causing their health to become a lot worse.
When it comes to a cancer misdiagnosis, the impact can be truly devastating. For example, you might have been told that you don’t have cancer, but actually find out later down the line that you do and that it could have been treated earlier. Or, you may have been told that you do have cancer, but find out later that it was a false alarm. Either situation can have absolutely devastating effects on your physical and mental wellbeing, which could affect you for the rest of your life.
Our medical negligence solicitors can help you claim compensation if you have suffered from cancer misdiagnosis.
Misdiagnosis can cover a range of medical mistakes, including symptoms being diagnosed incorrectly, failure to refer patients for specialist observation, failure to act on medical test results and incorrect readings of medical history, reports or x-rays.
Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Claims
The effects of a cancer misdiagnosis will, of course, be different for everyone, however more often than not it will have a serious impact on a person’s life. It may stop people from working due to physical or psychological side-effects and treatment. It can make people feel angry and betrayed by their doctors, and could even make them lose trust in healthcare professionals altogether. In the worst cases, it can lead to premature death of the patient, which leaves their family to suffer in the aftermath.
How Much Compensation for Misdiagnosis of Cancer will I be entitled to?
To answer how much compensation for misdiagnosis of cancer you may be entitled to we will need to look at a range of different factors, which will depend case by case.
You should note that a misdiagnosis alone won’t usually be enough to make a claim because UK law doesn’t hold doctors responsible for all diagnosis errors. In fact, there are three things that have to be proved in order for a claim to go ahead and be in with a chance of success. These are:
- There was a relationship between yourself and the doctor
- Your doctor was actually negligent, meaning they failed to provide treatment in a reasonable, competent and skillful way
- The doctor’s negligence caused you further injury or illness than you already had
If all three of these requirements for a misdiagnosis compensation claim are met, we can progress with your case.
Our medical negligence experts will assess exactly how much compensation you may be entitled to, so get in touch today.
There will have to be a full investigation into why you have been the victim of misdiagnosis before a compensatory figure is even calculated. Bear in mind that compensation is allocated carefully on a case by case basis, so try not to estimate what you might be awarded using news stories or high-profile cases, because every case is different.
Which Factors are Taken Into Account when Calculating Misdiagnosis Compensation?
When calculating the compensation for a cancer misdiagnosis case – and yes, it is very carefully calculated using set formulas – a range of variables will be taken into account. These include:
- How much the misdiagnosis has affected you physically, i.e. how your physical health has been affected. You might be experiencing pain, or the cancer may have spread to other parts of your body
- How much the misdiagnosis has affected you psychologically. Note that this is referred to as your “suffering”, and will be evaluated alongside your physical condition, but not separately to it
- Whether the misdiagnosis has caused you financial stress or losses
- Whether it has affected your lifestyle – this is called “loss of amenity”. For example you may not be able to have intimate relations or carry out hobbies like you could before
- Whether you have had to stop working due to your misdiagnosis
When you get in touch, our solicitors will assess if you can make a misdiagnosis claim and how each of these factors have affected you.
Compensatory awards are not given out randomly, but are decided on by closely assessing a range of effects the cancer misdiagnosis has had on a patient. How much you can get for misdiagnosis of cancer can therefore not be estimated without knowing all the facts of the case, because it truly depends on so many factors.
If you know you have been misdiagnosed, are suffering as a result and you’re itching to know how much cancer misdiagnosis compensation you could get if you claim, get in touch with our clinical negligence team. We can talk you through the claims process and give you an indication of whether you have a chance at success. From there, we can take on your case and at that point may be able to give you an idea of how much you could be compensated.
What Can I Claim Compensation for?
Misdiagnosis is not as black and white as it sounds, but instead there are different types of misdiagnosis which could have a long-term effect on your health and wellbeing. Under the umbrella of misdiagnosis fall a range of errors, including:
- Diagnostic test errors: this occurs when a doctor is reliant on inaccurate test reports for your diagnosis. This can be down to faulty diagnostic equipment, or a human error
- Missed diagnosis: this is when your doctor declares you are healthy, when really you are not
- Delayed diagnosis: the most common type of misdiagnosis. This is where a missed diagnosis has occurred to begin with, and then you are correctly diagnosed after a significant amount of time has passed (read more about this on our delayed diagnosis compensation page)
- Failure to diagnose complications: doctors can sometimes fail to identify other diseases or complications to your disease which pose a higher risk to you then the original diagnosis
Experiencing any of these kinds of misdiagnosis, especially when it comes to cancer, is awful. Your whole life can feel like it’s crumbling around you, whether you are the patient or their loved one. This is why cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims exist – to help families get their lives back on track.
Our expert medical negligence solicitors can help with claims against the NHS and private institutions.
Although nothing can turn back time, getting compensated for the suffering you or your loved one has been forced through can help make the process of moving forward that little bit smoother.
Get in touch to find out if you can make a misdiagnosis negligence claim.
Help with your Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Claim
Here at AWH we understand how serious a cancer misdiagnosis can be and want to help you claim so you can get back on your feet.
Our team are always sensitive and supportive throughout these kinds of cases, making sure that you and your family are kept in the loop every step of the way. We will do our best to make sure you are made aware of how much compensation you could be awarded if your case is successful so that you can begin to build your life back up again without having to worry about your finances.
Have you suffered because of a cancer misdiagnosis? We could help you get back on your feet.
