Written by Kate Campbell-Gunn, Associate Solicitor.
Being told that you have cancer is a devastating experience. This can be made worse by a feeling that the disease could have been avoided, or your prognosis improved, had the medical professionals around you performed their jobs properly. Perhaps your symptoms were overlooked, or your concerns dismissed and your diagnosis delayed. We all know that, when it comes to cancer, prompt investigation and treatment is essential to prevent the spread of the disease and to give the best chance of a cure.
At The Wilkes Partnership we have helped with compensation claims in relation to all types of cancer including:
- bladder cancer
- bowel cancer
- breast cancer
- cervical cancer
- colon cancer
- lung cancer
- ovarian cancer
- skin cancer
- testicular cancer.
Cancer Compensation Claim
It is only right you should be compensated for the suffering and life changes imposed by a delay in diagnosing cancer that was due to medical negligence. At The Wilkes Partnership we are a team of negligence claims lawyers committed to recovering compensation that we know will remove some of the uncertainties about your future and will enhance your quality of life. Nothing can make up for the devastation of being diagnosed with cancer, but a compensation award can make life a little easier for you and your family.
Firstly, we will obtain your medical records and assess the missed opportunities in your cancer diagnosis. We will then instruct an independent medico-legal oncologist to comment on the missed opportunities and whether they amount to negligence. This is known as establishing liability. If the medico-legal expert finds there has been a breach of duty of care, then they will also comment on whether with different or earlier treatment, your outcome might have been improved. This is known as causation. Often in cancer claims, there is a clear breach of duty of care, but in fact the outcome might have been the same in any event. The skill of the lawyer experienced in cancer claim is ascertaining and establishing a breach date whereby with reasonable treatment, the outcome would have been more improved in terms of alleviation of symptoms, reduced spread of cancer or improved life expectancy.
If you or someone you know has been affected by a medical negligence cancer claim, please get in touch and we would be happy to help.