How Your Radiologist Could Be Responsible for Your Breast Cancer Misdiagnosis
Nearly 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year resulting in 40,000 deaths annually. In many cases, the disease could have been diagnosed earlier. Unlike other illnesses and conditions, cancer misdiagnosis is infrequently doctor error but more often caused by late diagnosis stemming from negligence, incompetence, or mammography errors made by the radiologist. If you’ve been a victim of misdiagnosis or late diagnosis that due to any of these, contact a Brooklyn medical malpractice attorney.
Imaging results from a mammogram, breast ultrasound, or breast MRI are used to create an overall clinical picture of the patient. Failure to provide the physician with this information is considered negligence. In addition to the imaging results, the radiologist must provide details of abnormalities that could be warning signs of cancer including calcifications, the asymmetrical density of breast tissue, retraction, spiculated mass, focal distortion, and skin thickening.
The radiologist is also required to make recommendations for follow-up imaging, magnification, spot views, biopsies, and other treatments. If recommendations are not made in a timely manner once the abnormalities have been discovered, cancer may spread and the patient’s condition may further deteriorate. Similarly, failure to make any recommendations entirely is considered negligence or mammography error.
Analyzing breast imaging results is a complicated procedure and subject to errors. To reduce the chance of errors caused by improper interpretation and negligence, the American College of Radiologists introduced a classification system for reporting mammogram and ultrasound results called the BIRAD system, standing for Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System. The BIRAD system features a scale from one to five where the highest number signifies a greater possibility of breast cancer. While this does reduce cases of misdiagnosis, it does not eliminate them.
Contact a New York Medical Misdiagnosis Lawyer
In cases of error, whether negligence, mammography error, or improper interpretation, the radiologist responsible should be held accountable, and the best way to achieve this is to seek the services of New York medical malpractice lawyers. Contact Peters Berger Koshel & Goldberg, P.C., at 1-800-836-7801 / 718-596-7800 for a free consultation, to not only receive the settlement you deserve but to also reduce the chance of others in your position from receiving a misdiagnosis.