Hearing that you have cancer from your doctor is a devastating situation for any patient. The thought of months of invasive treatments, long hospital stays, and loss of hair, among the many other side effects of cancer treatment can be overwhelming.
A Victoria woman recently won a lawsuit against her doctor who gave her a wrong diagnosis of breast cancer. In 2009, the doctor gave her a diagnosis of Stage IV terminal breast cancer. But it turns out that she didn’t have breast cancer at all and that he had misread a PET/CT scan. Because of the diagnosis he gave her, she went through eight rounds of chemotherapy and was on at least ten different medications that made her ill. In 2011, she was admitted to a facility to treat anxiety and while there, it was discovered that she never had cancer to begin with. By this time, the victim had lost her job, her health insurance, and a lot of money in treatment costs. This failure to diagnose cost the victim a lot of pain and suffering.
When a doctor misdiagnoses a patient, the results can be serious. Luckily in the Victoria woman’s case she didn’t die from the mistake, but she did fall quite ill due to the unnecessary treatments. This major mistake made by the doctor created a host of problems for the victim that were not just medical. The loss of her job, her health insurance, and a lot of money were also results of the doctor’s error. Because of all of these problems that resulted from the doctor’s error, a lawsuit was essential to try and recoup the lost wages, medical expenses, and pain and suffering that she experienced.
Source: Victoria Advocate, “Victoria woman wins suit against doctor,” Jessica Priest, July 13, 2013
