What can be done legally about a delayed diagnosis?

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What can be done legally about a delayed diagnosis?

For the past year his voice has been messed up and he had not been feeling right. He asked his primary doctor over and over again, could this be cancer. She kept saying it was this and that. Nothing that she was doing was helping. Well she finally sent him to a puluminary doctor to see if he had laryngitis. They found something and did biopsies and surgery and found a mass in his left lung and it had also spread in his lymph nodes in between the lungs. He has stage 3b lung cancer.

Asked on October 6, 2015 under Malpractice Law, Arkansas

Answers:

S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

Medical malpractice is negligence.  Negligence is the failure to exercise due care that degree of care that a reasonable medical practitioner in the community would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm.
Prior to filing a lawsuit for negligence against the primary doctor, it may be possible to settle the case with her malpractice insurance carrier.
The claim filed with the malpractice insurance carrier should include the medical bills, medical reports, and documentation of wage loss.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement.  The medical reports will document the nature and extent of the medical condition and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering which is an amount in addition to the medical bills.  Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement.
If the case is settled with the malpractice insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed.
If settlement offers from the malpractice insurance carrier are inadequate, reject the settlement offers and file a lawsuit for negligence against the primary care doctor.
If the case is NOT settled with the malpractice insurance carrier, the lawsuit for negligence against the doctor must be filed prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or the party's rights will be lost forever in the matter.


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