Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

Receiving a cancer diagnosis is always an emotional time for patients, as well as their family and friends. In some cases, it may be that your doctor has failed to notice the disease as early as they should have, potentially leaving you (or your loved one) in a much worse position than you would otherwise have been.

At Jackson Lees, we receive a number of enquiries from people suffering from cancer, or from their families, and one of the most common concerns is that a diagnosis of cancer has been delayed, as a result of alleged negligence by medical professionals.

In these instances, you may wish to make a claim for cancer misdiagnosis. The expert Medical Negligence Solicitors at Jackson Lees can draw on over 25 years of experience in successfully dealing with these cases.

We won’t charge you to take on your case and we offer conditional fee agreements, also known as no win, no fee.

Call us today or fill in our online enquiry form.

How Cancer Claims Work

A cancer claim can present complicated legal and medical issues, as well as being extremely emotionally distressing for the client. Legally, it is usually necessary to demonstrate that not only was there a negligent delay in diagnosing the cancer, but also, that the delay made a difference to the client’s prospects of survival.

In order to make a successful cancer claim, you must be able to show two things. In the first instance, it must be proven that your doctor missed an earlier opportunity to diagnose your condition. They may have initially diagnosed you with a different condition, or failed to spot that there was anything wrong with you at all.

Secondly, and crucially, you must provide evidence that your current position is worse than it would have been if the correct diagnosis had been made. For example, your cancer may have since worsened to a point where it is more difficult to treat, potentially decreasing your survival chances.

It is often the second point that can be hard to prove, and this can be very distressing for clients and their families to deal with.

The legal position is usually that if an earlier diagnosis of the cancer would still have given the patient a less than 50% chance of survival, then the fact that the diagnosis has been made later, despite negligence, is not held legally to have changed the prospects of survival for that patient.

This can be very difficult to accept, emotionally and practically, as most people would prefer a diagnosis at a time when their prospects of survival were 45%, rather than 20%, even though both are below 50%.

However, claims for delayed diagnosis of cancer can succeed, but in order to do so, it is essential that the lawyers involved are aware of the appropriate legal tests and issues, and can instruct experts who can assess the medical position very carefully.

At Jackson Lees, we have succeeded in claims on behalf of a number of clients in such cases, and have a clear understanding of what must be demonstrated, whilst never losing sight of the emotional impact that such investigations can have for the client and / or their family.

Jackson Lees' solicitors work with the independent medical experts needed to help support your cancer misdiagnosis claim.

In the cases, when Medical Negligence is potentially life-threatening, you can expect the doctor or medical facility concerned to defend themselves very strongly. Our team knows exactly what to expect and will work hard on your behalf to ensure your side of the story is heard. That’s why you need a Medical Negligence specialist.

Case Study

We represented a client who had attended her GP on a number of occasions, complaining of a skin lesion which was diagnosed as a wart, and treated with freezing spray on several occasions, before it was subsequently diagnosed as in fact being a malignant melanoma. Following detailed investigations, we obtained supportive expert evidence to argue that had it been diagnosed earlier, and appropriate treatment been provided, then on balance of probabilities, the cancer would not have spread and metastasised, causing her eventual death.

We were able to accelerate progression of the case with provision being made for an expedited trial, as a result of the Claimant’s poor health, but were subsequently able to settle the matter without the need for Trial, for £150,000, prior to the client’s death as she had wished.

The Clinical Negligence team at Jackson Lees have considerable experience in respect of dealing with claims for Delayed Diagnosis of cancer, but also in respect of other allegations of negligence in respect of cancer treatment, and will do their best to help clients and their families as effectively and as sensitively as possible.

Contact Our Medical Negligence Solicitors

If you are looking to make a cancer misdiagnosis claim and require reliable experts to provide you with legal and emotional support, speak to the Jackson Lees team today. We are accredited by the Law Society and Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA).

Our blog and news sections may help to provide you with further information that you might find useful. In particular the article ‘Cancer claims, how we can help.’

Established in 1889, we work hard to help our clients do the right thing, the right way. In addition to cancer claims, we can help with many different Medical Negligence cases and you can call us or fill in the online enquiry form.