Perhaps the most common type of medical malpractice is the failure to diagnose cancer.  While there are many types of cancer, almost every case of cancer misdiagnosis involves one of a handful of errors.  They include failure to appreciate patient complaints, incorrectly assigning patient complaints to non-cancerous causes, failure to order appropriate diagnostic studies, and failure to refer to a specialist.

As a consequence of cancer misdiagnosis, time passes without appropriate treatment and, with the passage of time, cancer grows.  As cancer grows, it becomes harder to treat and beat.  Cancer progression is staged by size, number and location of tumors:

• Stage 0: Cancer in situ (early cancer found only in the layer of cells where it formed)
  
• Stage I, II and III: Higher number means more advanced disease, a larger tumor, more tumors, and spread to lymph nodes.
  
• Stage IV: Spread of cancer to another organ.

To learn about common cancer-related medical mistakes, click on one or more of the following links:

• Failure to diagnose breast cancer;
• Failure to diagnose prostate cancer;
• Failure to diagnose colon cancer;
  
• Failure to diagnose uterine cancer;
  
• Failure to diagnose cervical cancer;
  
• Failure to diagnose lung cancer; and
• Failure to diagnose skin cancer.