The claim requires proof that the standard of care called for earlier diagnosis and that the delay caused harm through disease progression or lost treatment opportunity.
Causation frequently turns on staging and prognosis at the earlier point.
Alternative Names:
Diagnostic Delay, Failure to Timely Diagnose
Why it Matters?
Causation is where these cases are won, since establishing that earlier diagnosis would have changed the outcome requires evidence about the disease stage at the earlier point and the prognosis associated with it. For cancers with poor prognosis at any stage the delay may not have altered the result. Loss of chance doctrine changes that analysis in states recognizing it, permitting proportional recovery for reduced survival probability.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Where are delayed diagnosis cases won?
How does loss of chance change the analysis?
