Errors in Screening and Mammograms for Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer impacting women, with hundreds of thousands of new cases diagnosed each year. An early diagnosis increases the chance of good outcomes, and fortunately, mammograms and other diagnostic screenings help many women catch breast cancer before it spreads to other tissues. Errors in screening and mammograms for breast cancer can result in delayed or missed diagnoses, however, which in turn leads to a worse prognosis and reduced quality of life. Such mistakes are often the result of negligence and may be grounds for filing medical malpractice claims. If you were hurt by errors in screening and mammograms for breast cancer, you may be owed compensation, and it is smart to talk to an attorney about your options. At Arfaa Law Group, our Baltimore medical malpractice attorneys understand the devastating impact of preventable medical errors, and if we represent you, we will help you seek the results you deserve.

Errors in screening and mammograms for breast cancer can have significant ramifications, potentially leading to delayed diagnosis, unnecessary treatments, or false reassurance. False positives may result in unnecessary biopsies, causing emotional distress and anxiety for patients. Moreover, overdiagnosis and overtreatment stemming from false positives can subject patients to unnecessary surgeries, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy, which cause their own set of physical and psychological symptoms. Conversely, false negatives can lead to missed diagnoses, delaying crucial treatment interventions and potentially allowing cancer to progress unchecked.

Various factors can cause such errors. For example, technical mistakes may stem from issues such as equipment malfunction, inadequate imaging quality, or improper positioning during mammography, which can lead to suboptimal image clarity and potentially obscure or mimic abnormalities. On the other hand, errors in interpretation occur when radiologists overlook subtle signs of cancer or misclassify benign lesions as malignant, resulting in false positives. Conversely, false negatives occur when cancerous lesions are missed during interpretation, potentially due to their small size, obscured location, or overlap with normal breast tissue.

Regardless of the exact nature of the mistake a doctor makes in screening for breast cancer, the root cause is usually carelessness. As such, patients who pursue medical malpractice claims against their doctors for harm caused by errors in screening and mammograms for breast cancer will usually proceed under a theory of negligence.

In Maryland, a plaintiff pursuing negligence claims against a defendant first must show that the defendant owed them a duty. In the realm of medicine, the duty a doctor owes a patient is to offer treatment that meets the applicable standard of care, which is the attention that a competent physician in the same specialty would offer in the same situation. Next, the plaintiff has to prove that the defendant breached the standard of care in some way. Typically, the plaintiff will need to engage a medical expert to explain the applicable standard and the ways in which the defendant neglected to uphold the standard to the judge or jury.

Finally, the plaintiff needs to link the defendant’s departure from the standard of care to the harm the plaintiff ultimately suffered. In other words, they must prove that they would not have suffered the injuries in question had the defendant complied with the standard of care. Proving causation usually requires expert testimony as well. A plaintiff who demonstrates a defendant’s fault may be compensated for their financial harm, such as the cost of their medical care and lost earnings, as well as their intangible losses, like pain and suffering.

Diagnostic screenings help many women identify breast cancer in the early stages, but unfortunately, some women suffer harm due to reckless oversights that result in errors in screening and mammograms for breast cancer. If you were injured by a doctor’s mistakes, you should meet with an attorney to evaluate your options for seeking damages. The experienced Baltimore lawyers of Arfaa Law Group can inform you of your rights and help you pursue the best legal outcome possible. Our office is in Baltimore, and we often represent injured parties in medical malpractice claims throughout the city. You can reach us at 410-889-1850 or via our online form to set up a conference.