Although no one here in New Mexico hopes or expects that a doctor will misdiagnose them, it happens. Luckily, when doctor errors like that happen, the victim has the right to pursue monetary compensation in the form of a medical malpractice lawsuit. That’s exactly what one 47-year-old woman did in another state and prevailed.
In this woman’s case, she had gone to a radiologist for a routine mammogram. In this mammogram, which was taken in 2008, there was an abnormality. However, the radiologist did not read the abnormality as anything that required immediate attention.
Unfortunately, it was a fatal form of breast cancer. She received her diagnosis two years later. According to an expert that testified on behalf of the plaintiff, there was an 80 to 100 percent chance that she could have been cured of the breast cancer if she had been able to obtain immediate treatment. With this testimony and other evidence from the trial, the jury awarded the woman $6.9 million in damages for the harm that the doctor errors caused her.
When doctor errors occur in the form of a misdiagnosis or a delayed diagnosis, it can cause serious harm or even death to the victim. When New Mexico residents find themselves in a similar position, it can prove to be beneficial to speak to a legal professional to determine whether there is any recourse available to seek compensation for the harm caused by the doctor’s negligence. Although the compensation itself will not heal the affliction or bring back a deceased loved one, a successful judgment is more about establishing accountability with the hopes of preventing such a tragedy happening to others later on.