Ovarian Cancer Misdiagnosis

When ovarian cancer occurs, cancerous cells develop on one or both ovaries where the female reproductive system stores the eggs. If you were harmed by an ovarian cancer misdiagnosis, you should discuss your case with the Syracuse medical malpractice attorneys of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. Medical malpractice lawsuits can be complex and challenging, and it’s important to retain an experienced trial lawyer who works with knowledgeable, credible experts.

Ovarian cancer kills many women each year. Symptoms of ovarian cancer can include pelvic pain, increased need to urinate, appetite loss, abnormal menstruation, nausea, vaginal bleeding, sensation of being full quickly, urinary tract issues, and extreme bloating. Often these symptoms become serious quickly. However, there may not be any symptoms of ovarian cancer in a woman who has it. The success of treatments can depend on the cancer being caught early on, before it has a chance to spread. Ovarian cancer may be detected through a yearly pap smear, but it can also be caught in a CT scan, urinalysis, or GI series.

Not every misdiagnosis amounts to medical malpractice. In order to obtain damages for medical malpractice, you’ll need to prove: (1) your doctor owed you a professional standard of care, (2) your doctor departed from the professional standard of care, (3) the departure caused your injuries, and (4) actual damages. You will need to retain an expert to provide opinions about what the professional standard of care was in your case, whether the misdiagnosis was a departure from the professional standard of care, and whether the misdiagnosis caused your injuries. You can’t recover if you would have sustained the same injuries regardless of whether the ovarian cancer was diagnosed correctly.

Whether a misdiagnosis amounts to a departure from the professional standard of care depends on the particular circumstances. New York follows the locality rule. To determine the professional standard of care in most cases, you will need to retain an expert to testify about what a reasonably competent doctor in the same specialty in or around Syracuse would have done. If you presented with symptoms of ovarian cancer and your doctor didn’t include ovarian cancer in her differential diagnosis, this may be medical malpractice. An expert would likely need to testify that a reasonably competent doctor in the same specialty and geographic location would have included ovarian cancer in the differential diagnosis.

You need to consult with an expert before filing a medical malpractice complaint. In New York, most of these complaints need to be filed with a certificate of merit attesting that the attorney consulted with an expert about whether the claim was meritorious.

Doctors may defend themselves by arguing that even if they’d diagnosed the ovarian cancer correctly, the same harm would have occurred.

If you can establish liability for medical malpractice resulting from an ovarian cancer misdiagnosis, you may be able to recover compensatory damages, which are meant to return you to the position in which you would have been in had no misdiagnosis occurred. These damages may compensate for both tangible and intangible losses. An award of compensatory damages for ovarian cancer misdiagnosis could include doctor’s bills, hospital bills, costs of reimbursement for medication, lost income, and out-of-pocket costs.

Sometimes a misdiagnosis leads to death. If your loved one died as the result of a doctor’s ovarian cancer misdiagnosis, you may be able to recover wrongful death damages. In New York, wrongful death damages are limited to pecuniary losses occasioned by the decedent’s death.

If you were injured or a loved one was killed as the result of ovarian cancer misdiagnosis, you may be able to recover damages in a lawsuit. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents people in Rochester, Syracuse, and other Upstate New York cities. These cities include Oswego, Lyons, Oneida, Cooperstown, Binghamton, Auburn, Canandaigua, Wampsville, Watertown, Ithaca, Utica, Elmira, Lowville and Herkimer. Contact DeFrancisco & Falgiatano at 833-200-2000 or complete our online form.