In honor of breast cancer awareness this October, it is important to shed light on the frequency of misdiagnosis involved with breast cancer. With policy changes taking over the health care profession today, it is more important than ever for patients to take an active role in researching doctors. Perhaps the best advice is to trust your instinct when it comes to choosing the right health care provider. Missouri health care recipients should be aware of an increasing trend in misdiagnosis and medical malpractice cases, due to the industry’s attention shift to policy change and health care access.
Women who are high-risk, due to family history of breast cancer, can take steps to lower that risk by making healthy lifestyle choices. Avoiding exposure to radiation and environmental pollution is one example. Limiting alcohol intake, cutting out smoking, and increasing physical activity can all help in prevention.
Breast cancer prevention also starts with regular mammograms for women who are over the age of 40. Technology is not always accurate, however, and there is room for error. More and more cases have popped up in which the mammogram was not read accurately, and breast cancer was not diagnosed in time for treatment.
Receiving clinical breast exams, administered by a well-trained practitioner, can serve as a more thorough form of prevention. Unfortunately, the margin for error exists, no matter what measures are taken to secure the right medical care. When tragic circumstances come to life in health care provision, placing the patient’s life in danger, Missouri residents have the right to seek restitution for misdiagnosis.
Source: courierjournal.net, Breast Cancer Misdiagnosis, Thomas Mccutcheon, Oct. 22, 2013