Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyer
Pancreatic cancer has to be caught in the early stages to give a patient the best shot at survival. Unfortunately, too many cases are misdiagnosed because doctors miss important signs of the disease or fail to perform a differential diagnosis. If your doctor missed your pancreatic cancer diagnosis, Levin & Perconti can help you fight for accountability. Through a medical malpractice lawsuit, our pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis attorneys can fight to get you compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, and the wrongful death of a loved one.
Pancreatic cancer accounts for three percent of all cancer diagnoses annually but seven percent of all cancer-related deaths. It also has the highest mortality rate for all cancers. This is likely because nearly one out of three cases of pancreatic cancer are misdiagnosed. Missed diagnoses of pancreatic cancer can prevent patients from receiving critical treatment, impose extraordinary financial burdens, and ultimately result in premature death.
Many cases of pancreatic cancer are misdiagnosed because health care providers don’t identify early symptoms or fail to listen to their patients’ concerns. If your doctor was negligent and misdiagnosed your pancreatic cancer, Levin & Perconti can help you take action and fight back.
Our pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis lawyers have 200+ years of experience and a proven ability to help victims of medical negligence win top results. As leaders in medical malpractice and cancer misdiagnosis litigation, we’ve successfully obtained over $1 billion in settlements and jury awards.
Don’t let your doctor off the hook for misdiagnosing your pancreatic cancer. Hold them fully accountable by putting our award-winning Illinois trial attorneys in your corner. We offer a free consultation, so call our Chicago, IL, law office to get started today.
How Levin & Perconti Can Help You and Your Family After a Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis
Your doctor missed telltale signs of pancreatic cancer. Maybe they attributed the symptoms to another medical condition or simply dismissed them as unimportant. Either way, their mistake has been incredibly costly for you.
You should not have to struggle with the devastating physical, emotional, and financial consequences of your pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis alone.
You can hold your health care provider accountable for their mistakes through a medical malpractice lawsuit and fight to recover life-changing compensation for you and your family.
Unfortunately, medical malpractice lawsuits can be quite challenging. Laws in most states tend to offer more protections for providers than victims of cancer misdiagnosis. The good news is that you do not have to navigate a complex and intimidating legal claim alone.
Levin & Perconti can help you level the playing field against tough adversaries, force meaningful negotiations, and ultimately work toward a substantial financial recovery.
Take this time to deal with the day-to-day impact of your cancer misdiagnosis and let our team handle everything else. Trust our team to do the following:
- Help you obtain medical treatment to deal with your medical condition and its effects
- Interview members of your medical team, witnesses to your care, hospital staff members, and other parties with information about your case
- Carefully investigate the circumstances of your medical care to determine where your treatment fell short
- Obtain and analyze evidence to prove your doctor failed to provide satisfactory care and was negligent by missing signs of pancreatic cancer
- Ensure that procedural requirements and filing deadlines mandated by state law are satisfied
- Represent you during all conversations and negotiations with other parties
- Aggressively pursue a top-dollar payout during settlement talks
- Explain the pros and cons of accepting any settlement offers you may receive
- Represent you at trial if the defendants and their insurers continually lowball you
Whether you’re dealing with the late stages of pancreatic cancer or have lost a close family member because of a doctor’s misdiagnosis, we understand you’re going through one of the most difficult times in your life. While money will not guarantee your full recovery or bring back a loved one, it can help to relieve the financial burdens you’re experiencing and get you a little bit of justice.
Our medical malpractice attorneys are here to help you make the most of your fight for compensation. We work on contingency, so there’s no cost to ask for our help unless we win your pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis case.
Give us a call or reach out to us online to get started. Your initial case evaluation is free.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer?
There are many different signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer. Most often, the first symptom is pain in the back or stomach, which worsens with eating or laying down. For many patients, the pain comes and goes.
Other notable symptoms include the following:
- Lethargy and exhaustion
- Fever
- Jaundice, or yellowing of the skin and eyes
- Itchy skin
- Dark urine
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Indigestion
- Bloating
- Unexplained weight loss
- Blood clots
Since the pancreas is responsible for insulin production, some individuals with pancreatic cancer also exhibit symptoms of diabetes.
Understanding Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis and What it Means For You
Pancreatic cancer is, admittedly, difficult to diagnose. The pancreas is an organ and gland within the stomach responsible for secreting chemicals—including insulin—to help break down and digest food after it’s consumed. Its location deep in the body can make it difficult for physicians to identify problems.
Additionally, pancreatic cancer, or adenocarcinoma, is often referred to as a “silent killer” because, in many cases, the disease exhibits no distinct symptoms in the early stages. Often, symptoms do not appear until the cancer has metastasized and spread to other nearby organs.
However, just because pancreatic cancer can be difficult to diagnose does not mean it is impossible. In many cases, patients do exhibit symptoms early on. Unfortunately, these symptoms are often improperly attributed to other medical conditions or missed entirely.
Common Misdiagnoses for Pancreatic Cancer
Signs and symptoms of pancreatic cancer can be subtle. As a result, health care providers unfamiliar with the disease may misinterpret symptoms and make an incorrect diagnosis.
Many times, pancreatic cancer is initially misdiagnosed as the following conditions:
- Gallbladder disease
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Diverticulitis
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease
- Heartburn
- Peptic ulcer
- Autoimmune pancreatitis
- Duodenitis
Other times, pancreatic cancer is not diagnosed as anything. Rather, health care providers dismiss patient concerns and write off their symptoms as psychological or manifestations of everyday stress.
Consequences of a Delayed Pancreatic Cancer Diagnosis
Any delays in a pancreatic cancer diagnosis can be catastrophic. Undiagnosed and untreated, patients with pancreatic cancer live an average of three and a half months.
When cancer is diagnosed past the early stages, patients live an average of eight months while receiving treatment.
When diagnosed in its early stages, pancreatic cancer offers a longer average lifespan. About 8 percent of patients who receive an early diagnosis will live another five years. In some cases, patients have lived for 11, even 12 years after a prompt diagnosis of the devastating disease.
As you can see, the earlier pancreatic cancer is diagnosed, the longer a patient can expect to survive. This means more time doing the things they enjoy and spending time with those they love.
How Do I Prove Medical Malpractice in a Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis Case?
Even though pancreatic cancer is notoriously tricky to diagnose, it’s not impossible. When a patient exhibits the disease’s symptoms, it’s the doctor’s responsibility to conduct a differential diagnosis and work to determine which medical conditions could be present.
If a doctor fails to identify symptoms, order additional diagnostic tests, or consider the possibility of pancreatic cancer, it can be considered medical malpractice. Medical malpractice refers to a health care provider’s failure to provide care that meets accepted standards within the medical community.
Would another doctor of the same specialty and similar training have caught your pancreatic cancer during its early stages?
Would another doctor have identified early signs, ordered necessary diagnostic tests, and helped you increase your life expectancy?
If so, you may have a solid medical malpractice claim against your doctor.
To win your medical malpractice case, you must prove each of the following elements:
- A doctor-patient relationship existed.
- Your doctor was responsible for providing care that met accepted standards within the medical community.
- Your doctor breached this duty of care by missing telltale signs of pancreatic cancer, misinterpreting diagnostic tests, or making other mistakes in treatment.
- Your doctor’s errors were the direct and proximate cause of your cancer misdiagnosis.
- You’ve suffered identifiable damages because of the misdiagnosis.
Pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis cases must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. This means a jury must find your claims, as supported by facts and evidence, are more likely true than not. Evidence that might be helpful in a cancer misdiagnosis case includes medical records, charts and hospital records, provider notes, hospital policies, and witness statements.
Medical malpractice cases can be time-consuming, complex, and demanding. Levin & Perconti has the monetary resources and legal experience to get you the outcome you deserve. Call our law office in Chicago to discuss the details of your pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis case today.
A Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawyer Can Help You Recover Compensation for Medical Bills and Other Expenses
It can be intimidating to accuse your doctor of a mistake and fight a hospital for compensation after a pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis. Additionally, medical malpractice lawsuits—including those for cancer misdiagnosis—can be time-consuming and require considerable resources.
You can make life easier and set yourself up for a successful result by enlisting the help of a medical malpractice attorney experienced in cancer misdiagnosis litigation.
When you choose Levin & Perconti, you put a team of nationally recognized personal injury lawyers with a history of taking on powerful medical providers and winning big for clients like you.
The hospital and negligent provider will work hard to downplay your condition and limit your financial payout. Our pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis attorneys won’t let them call the shots.
We’ll aggressively pursue compensation for all of your costs, suffering, and damages, including:
- Hospitalization, surgery, medication, chemotherapy, medical devices, and other current medical bills
- Future medical expenses related to treatment and therapy
- Costs related to medical travel and lodging
- Lost wages and income
- Reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Reduced quality of life
- Funeral and burial expenses if you’ve suffered the wrongful death of a family member
Valuing a claim for a misdiagnosis of pancreatic cancer can be challenging. Fortunately, our law firm has strong relationships with some of the nation’s most respected medical experts and professionals. We’ll collaborate with them as we build your case and lean on their insight as we identify your damages, pinpoint how the misdiagnosis has affected your life, and ultimately calculate how much money you should be awarded. Then we’ll put our considerable experience and knowledge of medical malpractice litigation to work to get you the top-dollar result you deserve.
How Long Do I Have to File a Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis Lawsuit?
Depending on where you live, you’ll typically have one to four years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit for damages. The medical malpractice statute of limitations in Illinois is two years.
Thanks to the so-called discovery rule, the statute of limitations usually doesn’t begin to run until the date your pancreatic cancer is diagnosed.
However, you may not have an unlimited time frame to pursue compensation. Many states have something called a “statute of repose” that puts a hard limit on the amount of time you can file a lawsuit. For example, Illinois has a four-year statute of repose in medical malpractice cases. This gives patients a maximum of four years from the date of the provider’s negligence to file a lawsuit.
The best way to protect yourself is by contacting an experienced medical malpractice lawyer near you as soon as you suspect your doctor made a mistake. Once the statute of limitations expires, you will no longer have the right to demand compensation. Your lawyer can help you satisfy all filing requirements and protect your right to get the money you deserve.
Exploring Your Legal Options After a Misdiagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is a fast-moving disease, so early diagnosis is essential. The longer it takes for this type of cancer to be diagnosed, the less likely a patient will survive. When a doctor misses critical signs of pancreatic cancer, fails to order diagnostic tests, misinterprets those tests, or simply fails to listen to their patient’s concerns, they can be held legally accountable for the patient’s injuries, suffering, and death.
Levin & Perconti is a leader in medical malpractice litigation, and our award-winning pancreatic cancer misdiagnosis lawyers are here to help you fight back.
Give our law office in Chicago, IL, a call to discover the considerable benefits of working with our highly-regarded team. We offer a free initial case evaluation, so contact us to get started today.
Testimonials
Not only were they so professional but also so caring and thoughtful. It was very difficult going over the facts in our mother's case but they were so compassionate and understanding and allowed us to be with them every step of the way. We were able to sit in on the depositions and we were really able to see how hard they worked on our behalf.
During that time, my family and I suffered the loss of my mother. Mr. Levin and Mr. Perconti were more than just our lawyers. Words can’t really express our gratitude.
They were most patient and responded timely to many questions throughout the entire process. All demonstrated professionalism and extensive knowledge of case and state laws. Their in-depth investigative work uncovered details which were unknown to us and yet sadly confirmed our suspicions. We would recommend the Levin and Perconti Law firm and especially this team.
During that time, my family and I suffered the loss of my mother. Mr. Levin and Mr. Peconti were more than just our lawyers. Words can’t really express our gratitude. My family and I will always be grateful for the compassion that they showed us. I want to thank you for what you did for my family, and for always being there for us.
Margaret’s representation, guidance, and professionalism gave us the sense that we could put our trust in Levin & Perconti and the final outcome proved that to be true.
Legally Reviewed by
Michael F. Bonamarte, IV
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for failure to properly read pap smears, resulting in the misdiagnosis of cervical cancer and eventual death of a 35-year-old mother of three children.
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for failing to biopsy a known breast tumor, resulting in the delay of diagnosis of breast cancer, causing death.
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for failing to perform an annual pelvic exam, which resulted in the untimely diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
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