Misdiagnosed Brain Cancer – Medical Negligence
In order to make a medical negligence claim for your misdiagnosed brain cancer, certain criteria need to be met. Firstly, a medical professional must have breached their duty of care. This, then, must have resulted in you suffering unnecessarily.
Within this guide, we will discuss the duty of care all medical professionals owe you when treating you as their patient. Additionally, we will provide some examples of the evidence you could gather that may support your chances of a successful claim. Furthermore, we will provide some examples of the potential compensation you could receive for a successful claim.
You can contact our friendly team of advisors to discuss your potential claim. They are available 24/7 to answer your questions regarding medical negligence claims and offer you free legal advice.
If you would like to talk to an advisor:
- You can call them on 0161 696 9685
- Use our live chat to talk to an advisor.
- Or, you can contact us online.
Browse Our Guide
- Eligibility Criteria To Claim For Misdiagnosed Brain Cancer
- How Might A Medical Misdiagnosis Happen?
- Helpful Evidence In A Medical Negligence Claim
- Compensation Payouts For Misdiagnosed Brain Cancer
- Contact Our Team About No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims
- Learn More About Misdiagnosed Brain Cancer
Eligibility Criteria To Claim For Misdiagnosed Brain Cancer
A malignant brain tumour (otherwise known as brain cancer) is a cancerous growth in the brain. Where the tumour is located in the brain could affect the symptoms that are experienced. However, some common symptoms of a brain tumour include:
- Seizures.
- Memory problems.
- Headaches.
- Speech and vision problems that worsen.
Since malignant brain tumours can grow quickly and be hard to treat, it’s important that you receive the correct diagnosis as soon as possible.
To make a claim for your misdiagnosed brain cancer, the misdiagnosis must have been due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care and you need to have suffered harm that could have been avoided. This is known as medical negligence.
All healthcare professionals owe you a duty of care when treating you. This includes doctors, surgeons, and nurses. According to this duty, they must ensure that the care you receive is of the correct standard. If a medical practitioner were to breach this duty, your brain cancer could be misdiagnosed, and you could suffer unnecessary harm.
What Is The Limitation Period To Claim For The Misdiagnosis Of Brain Cancer?
When making a medical negligence claim for misdiagnosed brain cancer, you must ensure that your claim is started within the correct time limit. This is 3 years from the date that medical negligence took place.
Additionally, you could also make a claim from the date of knowledge. This is the date you first realised the harm you experienced was caused by negligence. In this instance, you will have 3 years to start your claim from the date of knowledge.
Contact our advisors today to see whether you still have enough time to begin your claim. They could also inform you of the exceptions to the time limitations stated above for medical negligence compensation claims.
How Might A Medical Misdiagnosis Happen?
There are various ways that your brain cancer could be misdiagnosed. However, to be eligible to make a claim, you must prove that you endured unnecessary harm due to a healthcare practitioner breaching their duty of care. Some examples of how your brain cancer could be misdiagnosed include:
- GP negligence could result in a misdiagnosis. For example, your GP diagnoses you with migraines, despite displaying clear symptoms of brain cancer.
- A doctor inaccurately records or misinterprets your test results.
- Negligent failure or delay to refer you to a brain cancer specialist due to your GP failing to listen to symptoms you were suffering from and misdiagnosing you with stress.
However, it is important to remember that not all misdiagnosis cases could lead to a claim. If a healthcare professional can prove that they took all the required steps and procedures when treating your, and you were still misdiagnosed, you might not be eligible for compensation.
Do not hesitate to contact one of our advisors today to see whether you could be eligible for compensation for misdiagnosed brain cancer. They could also provide examples of what circumstances are classed as medical negligence.
Helpful Evidence In A Medical Negligence Claim
Evidence is key for any medical negligence claim to succeed. When claiming for misdiagnosed brain cancer caused by medical negligence some of the evidence that you could collect to help support your claim include:
- A copy of your medical records stating your diagnosis.
- Scans, such as an MRI of your brain.
- A letter confirming the results of your brain biopsy.
- Correspondence with your healthcare provider following a medical assessment.
The findings from the Bolam test could also be used as evidence in your claim. This is when a panel of relevantly trained medical professionals assess whether the standard of care you received was of an acceptable level.
Do not hesitate to contact our friendly advisors today if you are still unsure how to prove medical negligence in a compensation claim. Additionally, they could connect you with a solicitor from our panel who could help you with gathering evidence.
Compensation Payouts For Misdiagnosed Brain Cancer
As we have stated, you could make a claim for misdiagnosed brain cancer if medical negligence occurred. The harm you experienced could be compensated with general damages within your claim.
We have created the table below using the compensation guidelines provided in the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a document many legal professionals will use to help them value claims, as it sets out compensation guidelines for various types of injuries.
However, you should only use the following table as a guide. This is because the specific factors of your claim could affect how much compensation you may receive.
| Injury | Severity | Notes | Compensation Guidelines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain Damage | Very Severe | The person will need full-time nursing care. They will show little meaningful response to their environment, alongside other medical issues. | £282,010 to £403,990 |
| Brain Damage | Moderately Severe | The person will suffer with a serious disability. They will require constant care and could suffer with limb paralysis or a marked impairment of intellect. | £219,070 to £282,010 |
| Brain Damage | Moderate (i) | A serious risk of epilepsy, with an effect on sight and speech and a moderate/severe intellectual deficit. | £150,110 to £219,070 |
| Brain Damage | Moderate (ii) | Some risk of epilepsy with a moderate/modest intellectual deficit. The ability to work is also majorly reduced. | £90,720 to £150,110 |
| Brain Damage | Moderate (iii) | Memory and concentration are affected, with a small risk of epilepsy, and the ability to work is reduced. | £43,060 to £90,720 |
| Epilepsy | Established Grand Mal | The person suffers with established Grand Mal epilepsy. | £102,000 to £150,110 |
| Epilepsy | Established Petit Mal | The prognosis, effect on social/working life, associated behavioural problems, and other factors could affect the amount awarded. | £54,830 to £131,370 |
Special Damages In Medical Misdiagnosis Claims
Following a successful medical negligence claim, special damages could compensate financial losses you have experienced due to being harmed by a healthcare professional’s negligence. Some of the losses that could be compensated with special damages include:
- Travel costs to medical appointments.
- A loss of earnings, past, present and future.
- Medical expenses, such as prescription costs.
However, to successfully claim these losses back, you will need to provide sufficient evidence of them. This could include bank statements, payslips, and invoices.
Contact our advisors today to see whether you could make a medical negligence claim for misdiagnosed brain cancer.
Contact Our Team About No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims
An experienced solicitor from our panel could help you with your claim. They have years of experience handling various medical negligence claims. Furthermore, they could offer you a specific type of No Win No Fee agreement, known as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).
This means you are not expected to pay the solicitor you are working with any upfront or ongoing fees for their services. Additionally, you are not expected to pay them for their services if the claim is unsuccessful. Alternatively, if your claim is successful, you will pay the solicitor you are working with a success fee from your compensation award. However, how much they can take for the success fee is legally capped.
Do not hesitate to contact one of our advisors today to find out how a solicitor from our panel could help with medical negligence claims for misdiagnosed brain cancer.
Talk To Our Team
If you are still unsure whether you could make a claim for misdiagnosed brain cancer, you can contact our advisors. Our friendly team of advisors are available to help answer any of your questions 24 hours a day. Additionally, they could offer you free legal advice regarding your specific claim. They may also connect you with a solicitor from our panel who could help you with your specific case.
If you would like to talk to an advisor:
- You can call them on 0161 696 9685
- Use our live chat to talk to an advisor.
- Or, you can contact us online.
Learn More About Medical Negligence Claims
For additional articles by us about medical negligence claims:
- How to claim for medical drug errors.
- Advice on claiming compensation for an operation gone wrong.
- Medical negligence and sepsis misdiagnosis – can you claim?
Or, if you are looking for further resources:
- Cancer Research UK – Brain tumours.
- NHS Resolution – Annual Report 2020/21.
- General Medical Council (GMC) – The professional duty of candour.
Contact one of our advisors today if you have any additional questions about making a medical negligence claim for misdiagnosed brain cancer.