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The Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims Process

Lung cancer is a serious and life-threatening illness. According to statistics produced by Cancer Research UK, each year, there are around 49,200 new cases and around 34,800 deaths in the UK. As such, it is essential that you receive a lung cancer diagnosis and begin treatment as early as possible.

A failure to be correctly diagnosed could severely impact your treatment and long-term outlook. If your lung cancer was misdiagnosed due to medical negligence, you could claim compensation. In this guide, we look at how lung cancer misdiagnosis claims work.

Key Takeaways For Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

  • You may be able to claim compensation if you can show a medical professional was negligent and that you suffered avoidable or unnecessary harm.
  • Factors that affect potential compensation include how severe the avoidable harm is, the future prognosis and the financial impact of the harm.
  • Generally, you have 3 years to start a claim from when you realised (or reasonably ought to have known) that negligence happened.
  •  Not every misdiagnosis will involve negligence and result in a successful claim.
  • Our expert medical negligence solicitors can work on a No Win No Fee basis.

To begin a clinical or medical negligence claim please get in contact with our team.

  • Talk to us now using the online chat below.
  • Start your claim online and ask our team to call you back.
  • Call our team now 0800 073 8804.

A chest x-ray shows the symptoms of lung cancer.

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Can I Make A Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis Claim?

Whether visiting your GP with initial symptoms or concerns, whilst undergoing tests and treatment at a hospital, or any other point in your journey through the healthcare system, anyone treating you owes you a duty of care. They must deliver the correct minimum standard of care. This includes GPs, nurses or other doctors such as oncologists.

You could claim compensation if you have suffered unnecessary or avoidable harm as part of negligent medical care. In order to claim for the misdiagnosis of cancer, you will need to prove negligence.

The criteria that you need to show are that:

  1. A medical professional owes you a duty of care.
  2. They were in breach of this duty.
  3. You suffered avoidable and unnecessary harm as a result of this.

In addition to these criteria, any claim must be started within the relevant time limit. If you are claiming on your own behalf, any claim must be made within three years of the misdiagnosis or of you becoming aware of it and the harm caused. If the case involves a child or someone who lacks capacity, then the time limit will be different.

Please contact our team for more information about lung cancer misdiagnosis claims.

How Is Lung Cancer Diagnosed?

The first point of contact with the healthcare system may be to visit your GP. In some instances, lung cancer may be diagnosed after investigations when a patient presents to a hospital with difficulty breathing. Whilst a GP or doctor in an A&E department may not be able to provide an immediate diagnosis, they should refer you for further testing or assessment from a specialist at a hospital.

A GP (or A&E doctor) may perform checks and tests such as:

  • Use a spirometer to measure how much air you are breathing in and out.
  • Carrying out a physical examination to check if your lymph nodes are swollen, if your breathing is laboured or if there are any abnormal sounds in your chest.
  • Asking you to take a blood test.

If a doctor suspects that you may have lung cancer, you should be referred to a specialist to have further tests. These may be used to confirm any other lung cancer symptoms. These tests could include:

  • Having a chest x-ray – this is often the first diagnostic test which may be carried out. It will look for a white mass on your lungs. An X-ray may not provide a definitive diagnosis and so may be used in conjunction with other tests. For example, they may show lung nodules unrelated to cancer.
  • A Computed Tomography (CT) scan – this is used to create a detailed image of the inside of your chest.
  • PET-CT Scan – this may be carried out if the CT scan shows signs of a tumour or mass.
  • A bronchoscopy and biopsy – these may be carried out if the previous scans have indicated you may have lung cancer.

Following these tests, doctors could be able to say whether you have cancer, what type it is (such as small cell lung cancer) and what stage the disease is at.

Getting an early diagnosis of lung cancer is extremely important and can impact your recovery significantly. Contact us today to make a medical misdiagnosis claim.

A lung cancer patient is in a hospital bed.

How Medical Negligence Could Lead To Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis

Lung cancer misdiagnosis claims could involve negligence at any stage of the diagnostic process, from an initial appointment with a GP through to tests at a hospital.

Below, we look at examples of how negligence in lung cancer diagnosis could occur.

  • A GP fails to consider possible signs of lung cancer (e.g. unexplained weight loss or coughing up blood without explanation) and assumes a patient has a chest infection. The patient who is over 40 is not referred under the suspected cancer pathway.
  • An urgent chest X-ray is not arranged for someone who is over 40 and has unexplained symptoms such as a cough, fatigue or chest pain.
  • A specialist (such as an oncologist) may fail to carry out appropriate tests, including those in the previous section above.
  • Test results are mixed up at a hospital, and a patient is diagnosed with bronchitis instead of lung cancer. This results in a significant delay in treatment.

In any of these cases, a delayed diagnosis and treatment could be extremely harmful to a patient. It can be hard to know if you have been negligently misdiagnosed, but we offer a free and no obligation case assessment through our sensitive advisors.

What Are The Implications Of Cancer Misdiagnosis?

Any delay in treatment could seriously impact your chances of making a recovery. Statistics on lung cancer survival rates highlight this.

Where lung cancer is detected in stage 1, the 5 year survival rate is almost 65%. For stage 2, this decreases to 40%. In stages 3 and 4, this further decreases to 15% and 5%, respectively. This serves to show how crucial it is to get an early diagnosis and begin treatment.

It could also be the case that you need more invasive treatments to tackle cancer that is more advanced, or your recovery could take longer with a delay in diagnosis.

Please get in contact with our team to learn more about lung cancer misdiagnosis claims.

Compensation In Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

If your doctor fails to diagnose lung cancer and medical negligence occurs, you may be owed compensation. Compensation may broadly fall into two parts. These are compensation awarded for harm caused (general damages) and that awarded for the financial implications of this (special damages).

We should note that there is no average payout for cancer misdiagnosis. In each case, compensation is determined on that case’s own merits. To calculate compensation for harm, a medical negligence solicitor may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a document which contains guidelines on what could be awarded for different types of harm.

The table below uses JCG figures to look at what may be awarded. Please note that the initial figure does not come from the JCG.

Harm SufferedSeverityCompensation
Multiple types of harm and financial losses.SevereIncluding special damages, £1,000,000+
Brain damage Very severe£344,150 - £493,000
Moderately severe£267,340 - £344,150
Moderate£183,190 - £267,340
Kidney disease Serious damage£206,730 - £256,780
Loss of functionUp to £171,680
Serious impairment£78,080 to £97,540
Lung disease Lung cancer£85,460 - £118,790
Disease causing worsening function£66,890 - £85,460
Breathing difficulties.£38,210 - £66,920

Can My Compensation Cover The Long-Term Effects Of My Misdiagnosis?

When calculating damages,  you may not just have suffered physical or psychological harm. You may also have suffered losses financially. To compensate for this, you could be awarded special damages.

Special damages could compensate you for the cost of travelling to and from medical appointments, medical treatment and prescription (or other) medication. In addition, you could reclaim the cost of child care if you were unable to look after any children during your recovery. If you had to take time off work, you could claim compensation for lost income. The losses need to be a result of the avoidable harm, and you will also need to be able to provide evidence to prove them.

If you were harmed due to negligently undiagnosed cancer, please contact our team.

Could I Make A Medical Misdiagnosis Claim For Someone Else?

If the person harmed by misdiagnosed lung cancer was under the age of eighteen or otherwise lacks the mental capacity to claim on their own behalf, you could do so for them. In these cases, a suitable adult may act on behalf of the person harmed.

To act on behalf of someone else, you will need to make an application to the courts. You could then be appointed as a litigation friend. Once appointed, you will be able to make decisions on behalf of the claimant. You must keep them informed as best as possible and must make decisions in their best interest.

You can learn more about the medical negligence claims process and how to claim for someone else whose lung cancer was negligently misdiagnosed by contacting our team.

How A No Win No Fee Solicitor Could Help In Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

If you suffered avoidable or unnecessary harm and you have a valid lung cancer misdiagnosis claim, one of our specialist solicitors could help you. They may offer to take your claim using a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of Win No Fee agreement.

Claiming in this way means that your solicitor will not need to ask for any payments in advance for their service. Instead, you are only charged if your claim is successful. If it is not, you won’t be charged for the solicitor’s fees.

Successful claimants are charged a success fee. The fee is a percentage of the compensation and there is a legal maximum (percentage) which may be charged. Please contact us for further information if you have questions.

Contact Our Team To Get Started

If you or another person has been harmed by a negligent lung cancer diagnosis, please contact us no by:

More Information On Medical Negligence Compensation Claims

You may find these additional guides from our site, as well as external sources, helpful.

External resources

We hope that you have learned more about lung cancer misdiagnosis claims in this guide. Please get in touch with our team for more information about how we could help you.