A doctor treated me for an unspecified illness. When my cancer was finally diagnosed, it was advanced. Do I have a malpractice claim for a delayed diagnosis?

Cancer misdiagnosis is a serious medical error. A delayed diagnosis wastes valuable time during which a treatable cancer may advance and become harder to control.

Many conditions and diseases have similar symptoms. In reviewing whether a doctor committed a preventable error, we evaluate whether the doctor ordered the appropriate tests based on your symptoms and whether earlier intervention would have made a significant difference.

Sometimes, a health professional fails to respond to an obvious symptom presented by a patient, fails to refer a patient to a specialist or fails to order follow-up tests.