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From experience and working alongside clients with serious medical malpractice claims, women’s complaints are sometimes dismissed, not listened to, or taken seriously. This is being brought up due to the severity of the issue, especially related to women who get checked for breast cancer.

There is power in understanding what you deserve and expect from a doctor. And if your doctor missed a cancer diagnosis—here is what good a medical malpractice attorney is going to want to know.

Two Things

Your attorney will likely ask you the following:

1. Did you feel a lump?
2. What did you do about it?

The first question usually comes with a simple yes or no. When women feel a lump in their breast, they typically tell their primary care physician, OBGYN, or spouse. There are courses of action and responses that your doctor or a specialist will perform. And your attorney is going to ask to see if any of these conducted:

• Did your doctor feel the lump?
• What was the shape and density of it?
• How did your doctor respond?
• Did you have a mammogram?

It is essential to know whether your doctor felt the lump that you were feeling. There are several instances when the doctor simply missed what you went in for. This is why your attorney wants to know what the doctor said. Sometimes, even if they feel it, they dismiss the lump as a cystic breast. 

In other cases, the doctor feels what the patient is feeling. A mammogram usually follows. But after the mammogram, the doctor didn’t see any signs of cancer. Your attorney will likely ask to see the mammogram. Experienced medical malpractice attorneys have their own network of doctors they can consult. 

Although medical malpractice lawyers are not doctors, they are incredibly comfortable in and around the medical community. Don’t be surprised if an experienced attorney can look at a mammogram and point out cancer. Their doctors will too. So why didn’t your doctor see it?

Other Considerations

Mammograms can be wrong too. Clothes can have an impact on the reading of a mammogram. And it should also be noted that mammogram films are often all read at once. There could be a backlog. Your attorney can ask to read the history of the films to ensure that it was even looked at—and sometimes it never was. 

Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C.

If your doctor missed your breast cancer diagnosis, contact the attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. to schedule your free consultation. We are as compassionate as we are aggressive—and we never give up.