Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK with statistics sadly showing that 1 in 8 women are diagnosed during their life time.
These statistics indicate that each and every one of us is highly likely to know someone in their lifetime that finds themselves face to face with this disease.
Tireless hours are spent raising awareness for breast cancer, ensuring that the signs and symptoms are known and checking your breasts becomes part of your weekly to do list. This is with the aim of ensuring that anyone who does have concerns knows that their next step should be to immediately present to their GP.
Symptoms of breast cancer include a change in size or shape of one or both breasts, discharge from the nipples, which may be streaked with blood, a lump or swelling in either armpit, dimpling on the skin of the breasts, a rash on or around the nipple, a change in appearance of the nipple such as becoming sunken into the breast.
Diagnosing breast cancer involves a mammography or taking a small sample of breast tissue to be examined. These are often performed following a “two week wait” referral by the GP.
With the awareness that we have and breast cancer being so common, it is tragic to discover that even these measures and precautions do not protect patients from Medical Negligence occurring.
Medical Negligence
Delay in Diagnosis
Medical Negligence may occur if there has been a delay in diagnosis which had led to the cancer getting worse, spreading and ultimately impacting upon prognosis and life expectancy.
Examples of when this delay could occur may be through a failure to refer a patient who presented with symptoms or a failure to investigate further following an examination and or a mammogram.
Our Medical Negligence team are currently supporting the family of a patient who negligently suffered a 12 month delay in diagnosis after a lump was identified on a mammogram but nothing else was done about it. After a 12 month period of returning to her GP and Hospital, the cancer was eventually diagnosed but by this stage it had tragically spread to other parts of the body and the prognosis was terminal.
Had this patient not received negligent treatment this could have resulted in the cancer being recognised at a much earlier stage, requiring less invasive treatment and not such a poor prognosis and ultimately such a tragic result.
Inappropriate Treatment
Medical Negligence could occur following a diagnosis by way of a failure to correctly identify the stage of the cancer resulting in insufficient treatment, negligent errors during surgery or incorrect monitoring following breast cancer.
Our Medical Negligence team have recently resolved a case in the sum of £75,000.00 which involved reconstruction surgery of the breast following removal of cancerous tissues which left behind unidentified medical gauze in the breast leading to continuous infections. We are extremely pleased that we were able to achieve an excellent settlement for our client after many years of suffering in what could have been an avoidable instance of negligence.
Playing our Part in Raising Awareness
Here at Mark Reynolds Solicitors it is vital to us that we play a role in raising awareness for medical conditions and support the life changing research into diagnosis and treatment.
On Friday 23rd October 2020 we will be participating in ‘Wear it Pink’ day across all of our offices. Our colleagues will each wear something pink to support research and raise awareness for this awful disease.
If you would like to discuss a possible medical negligence claim relating to Breast Cancer or any other medical failure, please contact one of our medical negligence solicitors on 01925 418 004 or email info@markreynoldssolicitors.co.uk