Missed Cancer Diagnosis and Malpractice

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in the United States and the second leading cause of cancer death in American women.

Breast cancer mortality can be reduced through screening performed in accordance to current standards of care.

There are 12 million medical misdiagnoses each year, half of those being cancer-related. A quarter of all malpractice lawsuits are related to either a misdiagnosis or a missed diagnosis in the US. As many as 1 in 70 patients are diagnosed with cancer when they do not actually have cancer, leading to unnecessary treatment, and/or surgery. Many are misdiagnosed when they do in fact have cancer. This can lead to delays in treatment, and increased mortality rates.

It’s crucial to be aware of best practice recommendations specific to breast cancer screening, while remaining current with new screening modalities.
Breast cancer screening guidelines come from ACOG, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.
Recommendations refer to breast cancer risk assessment, self and clinical breast examination, mammography, and MRI.

Historically, the screening recommendations have not considered racial differences in breast cancer epidemiology, treatment, and survival. According to a study published in the October Annals of Internal Medicine, in Black versus White women, initiating biennial screening 10 years earlier (at age 40) reduced Black-White mortality disparities by 57 percent.

To learn more about the study specific to reduction in racial disparities surrounding breast cancer screening, view the below link:
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-6506

P.S. comment and share if you have experience in missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis cases