Lawyers, anyone? Failure-to-Diagnose Cancer case help

[AlienGirl]

Those of you who've been following my ramblings for the past couple years know about the run-around I had getting my tongue cancer diagnosed last year. Everyone who knows me has been telling me to file suit, so today I called a malpractice lawyer.

She told me that without a year-long delay between the second doctor visit and the diagnosis, there's probably no chance of winning the case.

Here's the thing: I had a year-long wait between the first ENT visit and the second, while I was referred around between departments (rheumatology and dermatology) trying to figure out what the thing on my tongue was. Also, I was caring for my husband during most of that year (at the time he was desperately ill with a lung fungus) so my own health--particularly something as silly-sounding as a sore tongue--took a back burner.

From the time of the *second* doctor visit to the diagnosis was only four months.

Since this lawyer said she wouldn't take the case, should I even try contacting others? The case is complicated by the fact that I was shuttled between doctors so much--you can't very well fault one doctor for failure to diagnose when you only saw him half the time, and the rest of the time it was other docs in other departments.

So, even though I still feel like I got the shaft from Group Health, especially since one doctor kept suggesting my tongue lesion had a psychological origin, I may not have a case that could stand up in court.

Should I go to the trouble of contacting more lawyers, hoping someone'll take it, or just give up on the idea of a lawsuit?

Tucker

[cherryperry]

1. Always get a 2nd opinion (LOL) - seriously! n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. I don't know enough facts to answer with conviction

but I would contact a large plaintiff malpractice firm anyway. There is a firm here in California that might have a member of the bar in your state as they are quite large and are listed in the who's who book. I will PM the name to you. THey have a couple dozen lawyers.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. Stanley Rosenblatt...Miami...call him tell him Elsewheresdaughter sent you

[Pallas180]

4. There are all kinds of lawyers, and most of them are lazy.Keep looking &

it seems to me you have a lawsuit against more than one
doctor, sending you to all kinds of other specialties and
not recognizing cancer. Did anyone of them take a smear
and send it to a lab? find out the labs name.....there's your
lawsuit also.

[seventhson]

5. In Most States you will need...

A specialist who will testify that the Dr. failed to exervise the proper standard of care.

Experts are expensive and you will have to pay for the opinion. But most malpractice lawyers have access to such doctors to assess the case and will get it done if you pay for it. If you get ALL the medical records from everywhere and send them to an expert (you can find them in law journals at your local or university law library) you might get an opinion which supports the claim.

Ask the lawyers you talk to if they have such experts and what the cost is (usually at least $500- 1000 just to review the record and listen to your story - which you should write in narrative form for them to read, where you went, what happened, what your symptoms were, etc.).

Once you have an opinion from a speacialist that your doctor failed to exervise the proiper standard of care (if you can) then you can go forward and may win the case. It is an investment but may be well worth it if there was clearly malpractice.

Get appointments with malpractice lawyers once you have all the info collected and startle themn with your grasp of the facts and what is required and they may take the case provided you pay the expense of the evaluation and are willing to pay the costs of filing the suit etc. Most lawyers who handle these cases will work for a contingency fee of 1/3 or more of the damages to you in pain, suffering, medical bills, etc.

Good luck.

PS I am a lawyer who has been involved in malpractce suits. It is expensive and time consuming and can be difficult to win so many lawyers like to take only pretty sure bets. But DEMAND the best lawyers and make sure they give you what they will charge you in writing.

[seventhson]

6. PS - You live near a nuke facility? Near the water?

The lung thingy (and even the tongue thingy) could be exposure to radiation effluents or leaks. See radiation.org.

The failure to diagnose is one thing and should be pursued. But knowing the cause and prevention (and future prevention) might also lead you to a thyroid problem or long term effluent exposure (and you might even have a lawsuit there too -- but that will be much harder)

Sounds like you have been exposed to environmental radiation (and I used to work for the litigation department in worker's comp in a nuke facility where I quit after 8 months due to what I believed was corporate criminality and abuse of workers)