For anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer after months or years of unexplained symptoms, repeated GP appointments or earlier scans and tests, they’ve probably thought the same thing: “If they had found it earlier, would things be different now?”
You go through the same mental gymnastics of questioning everything. Why were you told that your symptoms were nothing to worry about? How come you saw your GP several times but you weren't referred for further tests? Why didn’t it show up on that scan or test you had? Would an earlier diagnosis have made a difference to your prognosis or treatment options?
If that sounds familiar, you may be considering whether you could make a claim for medical negligence.
A cancer diagnosis being delayed does not automatically mean that medical negligence has occurred. Some cancers can be difficult to detect and a diagnosis can sometimes be delayed even when appropriate medical care has been provided.
However, if a healthcare professional failed to provide an appropriate standard of care, and that failure caused you additional harm, you may have grounds to investigate a medical negligence claim.
In this blog, we look at when a delayed cancer diagnosis could amount to medical negligence, what evidence can be used to investigate a claim and what you can do if you are concerned about the care you received.
What does a delayed cancer diagnosis mean?
Put simply, a delayed cancer diagnosis means that cancer was diagnosed later than it should have been. That sounds straightforward, but establishing whether a delay was avoidable can be much more complicated.
Cancer symptoms can be vague and can often be similar to those of other more common or less serious conditions. Sometimes, despite appropriate medical care and tests, cancer can be difficult to detect which means it is not identified immediately.
So, simply finding out that you had cancer after an earlier appointment does not necessarily mean that something went wrong. The question is whether, looking at the circumstances at the time, the healthcare you received was appropriate.
For example, there may be concerns if a healthcare professional:
- Did not investigate symptoms that should have prompted further tests
- Failed to refer you to a specialist
- Did not arrange appropriate investigations or tests
- Failed to act on or follow up an abnormal test result
- Misinterpreted a scan or other investigation
- Did not respond appropriately when your symptoms continued or became worse
- Failed to communicate important information between healthcare professionals.
If something like this happened to you, it may be worth finding out whether the delay should be investigated.
The fact that cancer was eventually diagnosed does not, by itself, establish that the earlier care was negligent. A medical negligence claim requires consideration of the circumstances surrounding the care you received and whether any failure caused you additional injury or loss.
“I went to my GP, but they didn't find my cancer”
This is something we often hear from people who are worried about a possible delayed diagnosis.
They tell us they went to their GP because of symptoms that wouldn't go away, only to be told it was an infection, indigestion, stress, a muscular problem or something else that they needn’t worry about. Sometimes they were prescribed medication for the suspected diagnosis but, more often than not, they were simply told to come back if things didn't improve. Symptoms often did indeed continue and they went back and back to see their GP until, eventually, they were referred for further tests and were diagnosed with cancer.
If this has happened to you and you sought medical help several times before receiving a cancer diagnosis, it is understandable to wonder whether your cancer should have been investigated sooner. That doesn't necessarily mean your GP was negligent. The symptoms you presented with may not have indicated cancer at the time, and your GP may have acted appropriately based on the information available.
However, if there is evidence that your symptoms should reasonably have prompted further investigation or referral, it may be appropriate to investigate whether the care you received fell below the required standard.
A medical negligence solicitor investigating a potential claim may consider the chronology of what happened, including:
- When you first experienced symptoms
- When you first sought medical attention
- What symptoms you reported
- What examinations or tests were carried out
- Whether you were referred for further investigation
- What the results showed
- Whether those results were acted upon
- Whether you returned with continuing or worsening symptoms
- When your cancer was eventually diagnosed.
This chronology can help establish whether there were opportunities to diagnose your cancer sooner.
What if my cancer was missed on a scan or test?
A cancer diagnosis can sometimes involve imaging, blood tests, biopsies or other investigations. Many claimants we have supported who experienced delayed diagnosis of cancer often had scans or tests and were told they were clear, only to be diagnosed with cancer at a later stage.
That can be particularly difficult to understand and many claimants are left thinking about how long the cancer has been there or if it could have been treated earlier.
Sometimes, an abnormality can be missed or incorrectly interpreted. This is something we commonly see in conditions like cervical cancer where routine screening tests have come back as normal and then the woman is told four or eight years later that, actually, abnormal cells were present and have since turned cancerous.
In other cases, it may be that abnormal test results were not followed up or communicated to the patient. Also, sometimes CT or MRI scans are not interpreted correctly, or a suspicious finding is not seen and reported upon.
If there are concerns about an earlier scan, X-ray, pathology result or other investigation, an independent medical expert may be able to review the evidence and consider whether the investigation was interpreted appropriately.
Could an earlier diagnosis have made a difference?
This can be one of the most important questions in a delayed cancer diagnosis claim.
It is not enough simply to establish that cancer was diagnosed later than it might otherwise have been. You also need to establish what difference the delay made.
For example, would an earlier diagnosis have meant that:
- Your cancer was diagnosed at an earlier stage?
- You could have had different treatment?
- You would have needed less invasive treatment?
- Complications could have been avoided or reduced?
- Your prognosis would have been different?
- Your life expectancy may have been affected?
Medical experts may need to look at what happened, when the cancer could reasonably have been diagnosed and what would probably have happened if it had been diagnosed earlier. The answer will depend on the individual circumstances and the type and stage of cancer involved.
An important point to consider is that an earlier diagnosis does not necessarily have to have resulted in a complete cure for there to be a potential claim. The effect of the delay might instead have been on the stage at which the cancer was diagnosed, the treatment available, the extent of treatment required or another aspect of your outcome.
What types of cancer can be affected by delayed diagnosis?
Delayed diagnosis can potentially arise in relation to many different types of cancer.
These may include:
- Bowel cancer
- Breast cancer
- Lung cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Cervical cancer
- Skin cancer
- Brain tumours
The symptoms and diagnostic process differ considerably between different cancers. For that reason, there isn't a simple test you can apply to decide whether a delayed diagnosis amounts to negligence. The individual circumstances and facts of your particular case need to be considered.
Examples of delayed cancer diagnosis cases we have settled
We've acted for many people who have been left wondering whether an earlier cancer diagnosis would have changed what happened to them. Here are some of the settlements our specialist medical negligence team have achieved.
1. Missed finding on a scan resulted in £1.5m compensation for delayed lung cancer diagnosis
This case involved a woman in her 40s whose MRI showed a small 1.5cm lung mass which wasn't reported. It was only identified later, after her health had deteriorated and further investigations were carried out. At this point, the tumour had subsequently grown, resulting in much more extensive treatment. She ultimately experienced significant lasting effects, including respiratory impairment and mobility and memory problems which impacted her ability to work.
The NHS trust admitted breach of duty in that it had failed to identify and report the lung abnormality and accepted that the delay had allowed the tumour to grow. Her solicitor, Caroline Moore, supported her to make a compensation claim for £1.5 million.
You can read the case report in full here.
2. Repeated appointments and missed opportunity to investigate symptoms resulted in £850,000 compensation for delayed bowel cancer diagnosis
This case involved a young man who repeatedly sought medical attention because of rectal bleeding and painful defecation. He first attended hospital when he was 25 and went back a further 12 times over nearly four years before a colonoscopy identified a cancerous polyp. He required surgery, chemotherapy and was left with ongoing bowel symptoms and other consequences.
He argued that the cause of his symptoms should have been investigated years earlier. The hospital eventually admitted negligence in relation to the failure to investigate appropriately. He was supported by his lawyer, Matthew Brown, who recovered £850,000 in compensation for his injuries and financial losses.
You can read the case report in full here.
3. Abnormal test result not escalated by GP resulted in £100,000 compensation for delayed prostate cancer diagnosis
This male claimant had an abnormal PSA result which was not acted upon appropriately. His prostate cancer remained undiagnosed for two-and-a-half years, during which time it progressed and subsequently spread to his spine. He was then given just 12 months to live.
He alleged that the delay in diagnosis took away his chance of curative treatment and the GP admitted breach of duty. His solicitor, Miriam Bi, helped him recover £100,000 in compensation.
You can read the case report in full here.
What if you were already being monitored?
A delayed diagnosis doesn't always begin with someone going to their GP with symptoms that aren't investigated. Sometimes the concern is that a patient was already known to be at increased risk, but an opportunity to monitor or investigate them was missed.
We represented the family of a man who had been undergoing regular surveillance for Barrett's oesophagus, a condition associated with an increased risk of oesophageal cancer. During one of his reviews, the findings were misinterpreted and he was discharged from the surveillance programme.
He was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer several years later, by which time it had spread to other parts of his body. He was given a year to live but managed to survive for four before he passed away in hospice.
After his death, his widow approached medical negligence lawyer Matthew Brown to bring a medical negligence claim against the NHS Trust. The NHS trust accepted that he should not have been discharged from surveillance and that, had the mistake not occurred, his cancer would have been diagnosed earlier and would probably have been treatable. The claim was eventually settled for £540,000.
You can read the case report in full here.
What evidence is needed for a delayed cancer diagnosis claim?
Your medical records are likely to be a particularly important piece of the puzzle. Depending on your circumstances, these may include GP and/or hospital records, referral letters and a record of consultations, as well as results from any blood tests, scans or pathology.
If you have not already requested your medical records, our team can do it for you. Once received, our medical records team will then arrange them chronologically and analyse them before they are reviewed by our medical negligence team.
During our initial investigations, we also ask independent medical experts to review the evidence available. They can help answer questions such as whether the care you received was appropriate and whether an earlier diagnosis should reasonably have been made. They may also consider what would probably have happened if the cancer had been diagnosed earlier.
Do I have a cancer negligence claim?
If you believe your cancer was diagnosed too late, there are two broad questions that need to be considered.
1. Was the care provided appropriate?
The circumstances need to be assessed to determine whether the healthcare you received met the required standard. For example, there may be concerns about a failure to investigate symptoms, a failure to refer, a missed diagnosis or a failure to act on an abnormal result.
2. Did the delay cause additional harm?
We then need to establish what difference the delay made. This could be whether the cancer progressed during the period of delay, whether treatment became more extensive, whether different treatment would have been available or whether the delay otherwise affected your outcome.
These are medical and legal questions that can require expert evidence. You do not need to know the answers before contacting a medical negligence solicitor, but having a general statement about what happened to you can help us understand your individual circumstances and assess whether you have a case to pursue a claim.
Can I claim compensation for a delayed cancer diagnosis?
If medical negligence is established and the delay caused additional injury or loss, compensation may be available.
Every case is different and the amount of compensation you may be entitled to will depend on the circumstances of your individual case and the effect the negligence has had on your life.
As well as your pain and suffering, a claim may take into account any financial losses such as:
- Private medical or rehabilitation treatment
- Care and assistance costs
- Travel expenses to and from cancer treatment
- Loss of earnings if you were unable to work during treatment
- Future loss of earnings if you have had to give up work due to your diagnosis
- Treatment or care required in the future
- Funeral costs if the delay resulted in premature death
- Loss of future services in fatal cases and financial dependency sums
- Any other reasonable consequent financial loss
General damages for the pain and suffering are worked out based on the Judicial College Guidelines. However, special damages – those financial losses resulting from the negligent treatment – have to be evidenced so your solicitor will work with you to advise what you may be able to reclaim.
How long do I have to make a delayed cancer diagnosis claim?
There are legal time limits for bringing medical negligence claims. Usually, this is three years from the date of injury or when you first became aware of the negligent act. In fatal cases this is extended in some circumstances to a time period after an Inquest date.
However, even if it fast approaching that deadline or it has been more than three years since your delayed diagnosis came to light, it doesn’t mean you are out of time. Unlike other law firms, we don’t automatically turn away time-sensitive cases and will judge each case on its own personal merit as to whether we think there is a strong chance of success.
In these cases, we can apply to the Courts for an extension called a ‘Stop the Clock agreement’ to give us more time to investigate before formal proceedings are launched.
There are also some exceptions to the limitation period in cases involving children or people who lack capacity.
So if you think you may have a claim, it is therefore important not to assume that it is too late without obtaining legal advice.
You don't have to work this out alone
If you've been diagnosed with cancer after months of symptoms, repeated appointments or investigations, it's understandable to have questions about what happened.
You may not know whether something went wrong. You may simply feel that something doesn't add up. However, you don't need to have all the answers before seeking legal advice.
A specialist medical negligence solicitor can look at the medical history, explain whether the care you received may have fallen below the required standard and, importantly, consider whether an earlier diagnosis could have made a difference.
If you're concerned about a possible delayed cancer diagnosis, our team can help you understand what happened and whether you may have grounds for a claim.