Failure to Diagnose Breast CancerFailure to diagnose breast cancer is one of the most frequently litigated medical negligence claims. The frequency of such claims likely occurs because breast cancer remains the most common cause of cancer death in women yet approximately 80% of all people who develop breast cancer have no known risk factors, The law offices of Mulligan & Banham have extensive experience in handling such claims and are available to help patients who have suffered breast cancer that went undiagnosed for an appreciable length of time. Successful claims may include those in which a physician failed to adequately order follow up tests on a known breast lump. The standard of care and good medicine require not only a mammogram be performed on a breast lump, but that a biopsy be performed on a breast lump to make sure that it is not malignant. Other successful lawsuits have been brought when doctors have failed to correctly read mammograms and/or ultrasounds of the breast, which revealed suspicious masses. Screening asymptomatic individuals (people with no complaints or pain) remains the best way to catch breast cancer at its' earliest stage because the smallest lump usually is palpated (capable of being recognized upon touch) only when it is about ½ inch (1 cm). Even this small of a mass is believed to contain about one billion cancer cells.
Experienced medical malpractice attorneys, such as The Law offices of Mulligan & Banham, are accustomed to such helping consumers who have suffered because of a delay in diagnosing and treating breast cancer.
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