Those who are terminally ill often show the most courage and dignity in the face of the inevitable reality. This is true for Texans and those across the U.S. However, even if it is accepted that he or she will not be around much longer, it must be considered if a failure to consider and diagnose or a delayed diagnosis left a person who might have had a treatable issue to grow sicker until nothing could be done. In such an instance, it is essential to discuss the matter with an attorney to decide whether there is the basis for a legal filing or not.
A woman from Tennessee was diagnosed as having a rare form of cancer on her foot. The doctor who initially examined it thought it to be a cyst and nothing was done. Eventually, she went to other doctors and they discovered that it was cancer and it was spreading. She was forced to have her leg amputated and the disease had reached her brain and her lungs. Nothing could be done to save her. Rather than wait, she decided to marry the father of her two children – age 6 and 4 – and to celebrate her 28th birthday. The couple had been together since they were in middle school. The woman has encouraged others to get more than one opinion when there is a medical issue that does not seem to be subsiding.
It is unfortunate that doctors cannot be fully trusted to come up with an accurate diagnosis when they are visited by a patient. However, it is not unusual for doctor errors to turn a patient into a victim. There are many ways that a medical professional can make a mistake that can make a person sicker or lead to their death. Included are a failure to order extra tests, not admitting a patient when hospitalization is necessary, not adhering to acceptable standards of treatment, not noting certain issues that could be important, and not recognizing when there might be something significant happening to a person.
In this case, the woman was misdiagnosed and the cancer unfortunately spread to other parts of her body. Those who are experiencing a similar issue must make sure that they understand their rights to be compensated in a legal filing. Even if the misdiagnosis did not result in death, there could be the foundation for a case. Discussing the matter with an attorney experienced in medical mistakes is important to moving forward with litigation.
Source: local8now.com, “East Tenn. woman doesn’t let terminal cancer stop her wedding,” David Ball, May 22, 2017