Misdiagnoses happen all the time, and as scary as that thought is, it should also motivate you to think about the care you get from your doctor. Are you happy with him or her? Do you feel he or she provides the type of care that you are looking for in a doctor? These things are important when you consider that, according to one person in our source article, there are 85,000 diagnostic errors every year.
All of these factors combine, in quite unfortunate fashion, to form our source story, where a woman who tried to be proactive about her potential breast cancer was constantly told she was okay — only to find out she only had six months to live due to breast cancer.
The woman went in for regular screenings and check-ups after a calcified lump was found in her right breast. It was found in 2007, but she was told it was benign. The same thing was said in 2009, and 2010, and 2011. All this time, the woman thought she was okay.
And then by random luck, the woman’s filed was pulled for review by another doctor in 2012. What they found was that the lump in the woman’s breast was a malignant tumor and that immediate action was necessary. Otherwise, she had approximately six months to live.
It appears she is on her way to recovery after a mastectomy, but the woman is still physically and emotionally devastated by the episode. She has understandably filed a lawsuit over the misdiagnosis and abhorrent care she received.
Source: KRQE, “Lawsuit: Woman victim of misdiagnosis,” Kayla Ayres, May 25, 2014