A breast cancer diagnosis can truly be devastating to your quality of life. A delayed or misdiagnosed case of breast cancer can be even worse because you may suffer additional harm due to the lack of treatment. A delayed diagnosis can result in permanent injury or even death.
What constitutes medical malpractice due to negligence? Having this information can help you make informed choices about whether it is appropriate to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit. Generally, in Ohio, there are four essential elements that you will need to demonstrate to prove your medical malpractice claim.
Those four elements include duty, breach, causation and damages:
- Duty — Your physician has a duty to provide timely and appropriate medical treatment due to your doctor/patient relationship. You must demonstrate that the physician in question owed you the duty of care.
- Breach — You must show that the physician breached the acceptable standard of care and missed a diagnosis that a reasonably competent doctor would have given. If other comparable doctors would have reached a similar conclusion, it may not be a case of medical malpractice.
- Causation — You must show that the delayed breast cancer diagnosis caused your damages and that some other factor did not cause your damages. Detailed medical records may help you support this claim.
- Damages — You must demonstrate that the harm caused to you by the misdiagnosis is quantifiable and compensable. How will you measure the damage you incurred?
Proving your case can be tough
It can be difficult and complicated to prove your claim of medical malpractice. You will have to prove that what your physician did was out of the norm for any other physician. If the diagnosis given to you by your doctor is likely the same as the diagnosis that any other physician would have given you, you will have a tough time proving your case.
Additionally, medical malpractice claims may involve the testimony of experts and the collection of medical records. The gathering of evidence can be time consuming. It is good practice to always keep detailed medical records. If you think you may need to file a medical malpractice claim for any form of negligence, an experienced attorney can be of assistance. A medical malpractice attorney will have the skills and knowledge required to help you file your claim and to significantly increase your odds of obtaining the damages to which you are entitled.