Imagine one day, you wake up with persistent abdominal pain and discover changes in your bowel habits within a week. You then went to a doctor to understand what is happening and receive various treatments. Despite these efforts, you do not feel any better, and it turns out the doctor misdiagnosed your condition. Because of this mistake, you find out you have colorectal cancer (CRC) a little too late. It can be a scary possibility to think about for yourself, but it might have already happened to someone else.
Why do doctors make this mistake?
Several conditions share symptoms with CRC, making it difficult to diagnose accurately. These conditions include:
- Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Diverticulitis
- Hemorrhoids
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
They tend to share symptoms that overlap with CRC. However, medical professionals should be able to diagnose them based on other factors combined with thorough and careful diagnostic procedures designed to prevent misdiagnosis.
The impact of misdiagnosing CRC
When a doctor misdiagnoses CRC, you may suffer several consequences:
- Advanced-stage cancer lowering options for treatment and survival rates
- Undergoing unnecessary treatment for the wrong conditions
- Financial burden due to incorrect treatments
- Developing mental stress and anxiety as you need to take another round of testing for the new diagnoses, leading to a failure to get better
Getting proper and accurate diagnoses can help you access proper treatment, which could lead to better outcomes. You can take legal action if a medical practitioner’s negligence led to this mistake.
The importance of legal guidance
Consider seeking legal advice and guidance when dealing with the aftermath of a misdiagnosis. As a patient, you could hold at-fault parties accountable by pursuing compensation for the physical, emotional and financial damage you experienced.