Approximately every hour someone dies from melanoma.* Yet, when this type of skin cancer is caught early it is highly treatable and death is rare. The best way to prevent a melanoma cancer death is to get the disease diagnosed and treated as early as possible.
How to Avoid a Melanoma Misdiagnosis
The way in which you should be screened for melanoma is highly dependent on your risk factors and symptoms. It is important to conduct routine skin checks at home and to promptly report any changes to your doctor. Additionally, it is often beneficial to have a doctor conduct skin checks as part of your routine visits.
When something out of the ordinary is detected, a biopsy should be ordered so that an accurate diagnosis can be made. There are different types of biopsies available, and your doctor should discuss the pros and cons of your options with you. Once the skin is collected via biopsy, it is sent to a laboratory for diagnosis.
If a melanoma diagnosis is returned then your disease will be staged and treatment which may include chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and/or drug therapy will begin.
Contact Atlanta Failure to Diagnose Attorneys When a Misdiagnosis Occurs
Sometimes the steps described above are not followed or are not done with reasonable care, and a cancer misdiagnosis results. That misdiagnosis of cancer may cause you to endure harsher treatments that keep you out of work and impact your quality of life for a longer period of time, or worse, the misdiagnosis may cost you your life.
If this has happened to you then you may have the right to recover damages for your doctor’s negligence. Please contact an experienced Atlanta medical malpractice lawyer today at 1.770.518.1133 for a free consultation, and please read our FREE book: Cancer: Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment Errors for more information about your rights.
*Source: The Skin Cancer Foundation, Skin Cancer Facts, Melanoma