Melanoma Must Be Diagnosed and Treated Early
Melanoma is the rarest form of skin cancer, though it is also the most aggressive. This type of cancer spreads quickly through the body if not diagnosed and treated early. If you are diagnosed with melanoma early enough, doctors will most likely be able to eliminate it. However, if the cancer is missed or misdiagnosed, the delay in treatment can have serious effects, even death.
What Can Cause a Melanoma Misdiagnosis?
Some causes of a missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis included:
- Your doctor not taking a suspicious-looking growth seriously
- Melanoma mistakenly being diagnosed as benign
- Your practitioner failing to refer you to a dermatologist for a second opinion
- Your biopsy being read wrong or misplaced
- Your doctor incorrectly diagnosing the stage of cancer, causing treatment not to work
The results of cancer misdiagnoses include:
- Your cancer might need to be treated with surgery rather than a simple removal.
- The cancer could spread to other parts of your body
- You could develop a more serious stage of cancer
Can I File a Claim for a Melanoma Misdiagnosis
If you or someone you love had a delayed diagnosis of melanoma due to a medical error, or you were given the wrong treatment, which caused the cancer to spread or even resulted in death, a treating physician may be held liable. You may have grounds for a lawsuit.
If that is the case, contact Kline & Specter for a free review of your case. Our law firm has more than 50 attorneys, including five who are also medical doctors, the most in the nation. We have offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York. For cases outside those states, Kline & Specter works with local attorneys in each state as applicable.
