Breast Cancer Malpractice Statistics | Michigan Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Daniel Buckfire

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Breast cancer is an increasingly common problem that affects hundreds of thousands of women and their families each year. In 2004, for example, over 186,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. Of these, 40,954 women died from breast cancer.

More than one in ten women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. Yet despite the great familiarity doctors must have with the increasingly common disease, misdiagnosis or mistreatment of breast cancer is the cause of more medical malpractice claims than any other disease.

Breast cancer responds well to early detection and early treatment. Unfortunately, too often doctors and other medical professionals fail to order tests, misdiagnose, and fail to treat breast cancer. Such errors can give rise to successful medical malpractice claims. Common errors include:

• Failure to identify an obvious lump during a breast exam
• Failure to perform a breast exam while treating a patient for other reasons
• Failure to arrange a mammogram, x-ray, CT scan, MRI, etc
• Failure to classify a tumor as malignant
• Failure to evaluate properly test results when tests are performed
• Failure to notify patient of test results
• Failure to order future tests
• Failure to recognize common symptoms