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A delayed diagnosis of cancer through errors made in the interpretation of pap smears can unfortunately cause women to have to undergo aggressive and invasive treatment later.
Cervical cancer is largely a cancer that is preventable through routine check-ups. Any type of dysplasia, or early pre-cancerous changes, can be detected through routine pap smears and pelvic examinations.
However, mistakes and misinterpretations have often been made during pap smear testing, causing cervical cancer to become later diagnosed. This delayed diagnosis of cancer could lead to invasive and aggressive necessary cancer treatments.
Delayed Diagnosis of Cancer
Dysplasia is the presence of abnormal cells within a tissue. It may signify the stage prior to cancer development. Through the effective detection of pre-cancerous cells, and through minimally invasive procedures such as a cone biopsy, pre-cancerous cells can be removed.
The advantages of early diagnosis is time to remove the cells before cancerous cells appear in the cervix. Once cancer cells have formed in the cervix, they can grow and spread to the ovaries and uterus. With the progression of cervical cancer, a hysterectomy may be needed to effectively remove cancerous cells, and late stages of cancer may require treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation.
To add to the concern for misinterpretation of a pap smear and possible delayed diagnosis of cancer, according to the U.S. Preventive Task Force, is that most pap smears are read by cytotechnologists in the laboratory than by a physician.
The Task Force states that “many women who are tested receive inaccurate results due to interpretative or reporting errors by cytopathology laboratories or specimen collection errors by clinicians. The failure of some physicians to provide adequate follow-up for abnormal pap smears is another source of delay in the management of cervical dysplasia…”
The failure to detect cancer on a pap smear is not the only way a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cancer could occur. Delayed diagnosis of cancer could be the result of doctors overlooking some of the following symptoms:
• Pelvic pain
• Blood in stool
• Bowel symptoms
• Blood in urine
• Bladder symptoms
• Vaginal odor
• Abnormal vaginal bleeding
• Unusual vaginal discharge (with or without blood)
• Pain during sex
There are also several common medical errors, besides improper interpretation of pap smears, that can occur leading to a delayed diagnosis of cancer. Some of these errors include the following:
• Communication errors between physicians and medical facilities
• Failure to refer to appropriate specialists
• Failure to adequately follow up or communicate with the patient
• Failure to recommend or offer cervical cancer screening
• Failure to recommend tests due to financial concerns
• Failure to recognize early warning signs and symptoms
• Failure to take a careful and detailed history
• Failure to perform a thorough and complete physical examination
The delayed diagnosis of cancer can also cause several serious injuries and complications such as severe physical pain, loss of reproductive or other organs, long-term or permanent disability, treatment which is more invasive, painful, aggressive and expensive, or premature death.
In general, cervical cancer lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.
If you were diagnosed with cervical cancer within the last five years, or if your loved one died of cervical cancer, and a medical lab failed to identify the cancer on a Pap smear test, you may have a legal claim. Get a free evaluation of your potential cervical cancer misdiagnosis claim by filling out the form on this page now.
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