Cancer Attorneys Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware 800-597-9585

A missed or delayed diagnosis of cancer is a common occurrence that can lead to spread of the cancer, causing disfiguring surgery, unnecessary chemotherapy and radiation therapy and, in some cases, death.

A study reported in the online journal Cancer in October 2004, concluded that roughly 12 percent of cancer patients in the United States are initially misdiagnosed. It estimated that as a result 128,000 Americans each year suffer some degree of "harm," ranging from having to undergo a second round of tests to consequences that are fatal.

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But investigations into such personal injury cases often reveal medical malpractice on the part of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals. Whether failure to timely diagnose disease (see The Welteroth Case), inattention to patients (Caruso, Ebel, Gallagher) or incorrectly prescribed medications (May), the results are often catastrophic. Patients suffer injuries ranging from birth defects to brain damage to spinal cord injuries. In many cases, the patient dies.

People also contract infections while being hospitalized. A survey of Pennsylvania hospitals released in November 2006 showed that 19,154 patients were infected in a hospital in 2005 and that 2,478 died after contracting infections during their care. (Click here to learn more about hospital infections.)

If you or a loved were the victim of medical malpractice, you may want to contact a medical malpractice attorney for a free evaluation of your case.

Medical malpractice is common, particularly in hospitals. It can occur during various stages of care, during something as complicated as surgery or as simple as the prescribing of drugs. In fact, a study by the Institutes of Medicine recently found that medication errors occur on average once a day to every hospital patient, resulting in serious injuries and thousands of patient deaths. (See article.)

Kline & Specter, P.C., has some 30 highly trained attorneys and a wealth of experience in medical malpractice lawsuits. Several of the firm's lawyers are also skilled physicians (see The Doctor/Lawyer Team). We have won a litany of large settlements and verdicts in medical malpractice cases. (See Major Victories.) The law firm attorneys employ exhaustive investigation, the latest technology and courtroom experience to insure maximized results.

Kline & Specter attorneys have had impressive legal victories in various types of medical malpractice cases, including the

Dr. Stephen S. Raab, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who authored the study, said: "I want to make clear that the major consequence is not that patients unnecessarily have organs removed or have a false diagnosis of cancer, but rather that they have cancer and it is not diagnosed."

The study concluded that misdiagnoses were caused by improper blood and tissue sampling and inaccurate reading of laboratory test results. Breast and colon cancer are among the more common forms of cancer that go undetected because of error.

If you or someone you know suffered serious health problems or death as a result of an erroneous cancer diagnosis, you may want to contact a cancer attorney for a free evaluation of your case.

A later study, this one released in October 2006, found that women older than 70 are "underdiagnosed, understaged, and undertreated" for cancer compared with younger women. Women in the older age group make up fully one-third of all breast cancer patients. (Read the article.)

Kline & Specter, P.C., a law firm with some 30 attorneys – several of them also highly skilled doctors – has broad experience and success in litigating cancer cases, winning substantial jury verdicts and settlements in Philadelphia and the surrounding suburban counties.

Breast Cancer. In one case tried by Tom Kline, a jury in Lehigh County awarded $33.1 million to a woman whose doctor and a company that provided mammography services failed to timely diagnose her breast cancer. She died as a result. (See the Welteroth Case.)

In a 2003 trial later featured on ABC’s Nightline, Kline won a $3 million verdict for the family of a woman, Dagmar Lackman, who died because of a delayed breast cancer diagnosis.

Colon Cancer. In a colon cancer case, the law firm won a verdict of $8.25 million in Delaware County Court for a man whose cancer was initially missed, leading to his death.

More recently, in March 2005, the firm reached a settlement on behalf of the family of Stephen Little, the former WBA super middleweight champion, who died of cancer after a misdiagnosis led to a 10-month delay in treating his colon cancer. Little, of Reading, married and the father of six, died at age 34.

Contact a cancer misdiagnosis lawyer.

To view News Articles about cancer cases handled by Kline & Specter attorneys click here.

Resources:

Read about the cancer misdiagnosis study

Read about the age-inequities cancer study

• The claim by a Nevada man that a doctor missed diagnosing his colon cancer was settled. The medical error resulted in the cancer spreading throughout the man's body, leaving him with only a 10 percent chance of living five years. (Full story)
  
  
• Federal jury delivers $2.75 million verdict against Wyeth and Pharmacia & Upjohn after finding that a woman’s breast cancer was caused by taking a combination of drugs made by the companies.(Full story)
  
  
• Judge denies pharmaceutical giant Wyeth's request for a new trial after a jury awarded $134 million in damages to three women who said a hormone replacement drug caused their breast cancers.(Full story)
  
  
• Atlantic Richfield Co. has offered $27.5 million to settle claims that pollution from a nuclear fuel processing plant damaged nearby residents' property and caused cancer and other illnesses.(Full story)
  
  
• Infections at the site of breast surgeries are fairly common, adding to the length of hospital stays and thousands of dollars to the cost of procedures. (Full story)
  
  
• Society for Women's Health Research says top women's health story for 2007 was the consensus on warning signs of ovarian cancer, which has a 90 percent cure rate if caught early. (Full story)
  
  
• University of Rochester study shows that traumatic or stressful life events can double the risk of breast cancer recurrence. (Full story)
  
  
• Nevada jury awards $134.5 million to three women who claimed Wyeth’s hormone-therapy drugs caused their breast cancer.(Full story)
  
  
• A Virginia Veterans Affairs Medical Center will pay $500,000 to a family who lost their father to colon cancer. (Full story)
  
  
• 2005 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association says autopsy studies show doctors are wrong 10 percent to 15 percent of the time.           (Full story)
  
  
• Disturbing statistics, originally gathered at the University of Texas Medical Center, show that since 1975, cancer survival rates have not improved for the 15-40 age group. (Full story)
  
  
• Only a minority of older breast cancer survivors undergoes recommended yearly surveillance mammography, but for those who do, the risk of dying from the disease is cut by almost a third, researchers found.(Full story)
  
  
• Judge rules in favor of a 15-year-old boy on an issue related to his lawsuit against Philip Morris, which he claims is liable in the cancer death of his father.(Full story)
  
  
• Delayed diagnosis of childhood cancer continues to confound efforts to achieve the best possible clinical outcomes.(Full story)
  
  
• More than 92 percent of Illinois dentists provide oral cancer examinations, but many are not performing the procedures thoroughly or at optimum intervals, according to new study.(Full story)
  
  
• Less than a third of survivors of childhood cancer get routine cancer-related health care as young adults, even though they are likely to have more serious need than others their age, researchers found. (Full story)
  
  
• MRI of both breasts in newly diagnosed cancer patients may be helpful in determining surgical treatment, study suggests.(Full story)
  

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