When Chicago patients are diagnosed with cancer, they may assume their doctors have properly read and reviewed their medical tests to provide them with an accurate diagnosis. Patients also assume that since their doctors have experience treating patients with cancer, their doctors will know how to treat their conditions as safely and effectively as possible.
What patients may not realize, though, is that one simple medical error could result in a wrong diagnosis. And when an error is made, patients could end up undergoing treatments and surgeries that are completely unnecessary. In addition to having to pay for medical treatments that are not needed, patients who have been wrongly diagnosed with cancer may also experience emotional distress and other injuries that could have been avoided.
According to reports, an Illinois woman is now seeking at least $50,000 in compensation for medical expenses and injuries resulting from a wrong cancer diagnosis. The lawsuit claims the patient’s doctor made several errors when diagnosing and treating the patient. The doctor had treated the woman for leukemia, but she later discovered that she never had cancer.
The woman filed a lawsuit against her doctor last month. According to the lawsuit, the woman’s doctor had failed to properly read the results of her medical tests, and as a result, the doctor wrongly diagnosed the woman with leukemia.
Thinking the patient had cancer, the doctor then prescribed chemotherapy drugs to treat the supposed cancer. However, the drugs the doctor had prescribed were illegal. The patient claims that the drugs were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the doctor prescribed the chemotherapy medication anyway.
Eventually, the patient discovered that she did not have leukemia. She also discovered that the medications she had been taking were not even approved to treat patients with leukemia. As a result of the doctor’s mistake, the patient received unnecessary treatment and suffered harm.
The woman’s case is very concerning because her doctor had allegedly made several mistakes when treating her. If the doctor did make multiple errors when treating just one patient, it is possible that the doctor made similar errors when treating other patients.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Chemotherapy allegedly prescribed to treat leukemia woman didn’t have,” Kelly Holleran, Jan. 10, 2013
- Our firm provides legal counsel to patients and families who have been harmed by doctors’ mistakes. To learn more about protecting medical malpractice victims’ rights and seeking compensation for malpractice-related injuries and costs, please visit our Chicago cancer misdiagnosis lawyers page.
