Cervical Cancer Litigation in Maryland
In Maryland, medical professionals have a duty to provide adequate care to the patients that they treat. Errors in the diagnosis of cervical cancer can have devastating and even deadly consequences. A patient may not discover the error until months or even years after it occurred. The delay in diagnosis or failure to diagnose may result in a prolonged span of time in which the patient does not receive the treatment that they need.
In order to determine how an error occurred, who is liable for the error, and how to hold the liable individuals or companies accountable, you may need to pursue the avenue of cervical cancer litigation in Maryland.
Errors in Screening for Cervical Cancer
The American Cancer Society encourages screenings for females between the ages of 21 and 65. A simple pap smear can be effective in detecting cell changes before the abnormal cells have become cancerous. As the cancer grows and progresses to other areas of the body, it becomes much more difficult to treat.
Catching the early signs of cell changes is crucial to patient outcomes, as treatment is generally more successful in the early stages of the disease.
Many errors in diagnosis involve pap smear results. If the physician fails to provide a pap smear, when they should have, the patient may have no indication of the presence of cervical cancer until symptoms eventually manifest.
If the laboratory which receives a pap smear for analysis fails to detect cell changes, the physician may incorrectly inform the patient that the pap smear results were negative for abnormal cells. Likewise, in this situation, the cancer may grow and spread before symptoms or another routine pap smear prompts another look.
Furthermore, a physician who receives a positive pap smear result for a patient must take any appropriate next steps, in order to definitively diagnosis cervical cancer and determine the level of severity. Follow-up care is important because a pap smear only reveals the presence or absence of abnormal cells; a patient is not fully informed of their condition and treatment options without the additional diagnostic testing.
Evidence Regarding Errors in Cervical Cancer Diagnosis
Medical records are an important part of a medical malpractice claim. An individual’s medical records may contain pertinent information such as the dates on which the individual saw the treating physician, the dates on which the physician performed screenings or tests (if any), the results of any screenings or tests, and details such as medical history and risk factors.
This information, and more, can assist a medical expert in forming an opinion about the standard of care and the cause of the patient’s decline or death.
A medical expert may be qualified to explain how the physician or laboratory technician, in a particular case, failed to provide the level of care that they should have. The defendant may, likewise, produce an expert to opine that the defendant met the standard of care in treating the patient or that any failure resulted in no harm.
How Maryland Cervical Cancer Litigation Can Help
A legal battle over cervical cancer diagnosis or treatment may be easier to handle with the aid of an attorney who can assist in cervical cancer litigation in Maryland. Delays in filing medical malpractice lawsuits may result in the inability to recover in court. Contact a dedicated cervical cancer litigator in Maryland today.
