Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Claims

This guide will explain the eligibility criteria that must be met to claim compensation for colon cancer misdiagnosis. Colon cancer is a form of bowel cancer which could spread to other areas of the body over time. Therefore, if a doctor fails to diagnose colon cancer, it could cause a worsened prognosis or be fatal.

Colon cancer misdiagnosis claims guide

Every medical professional owes their patients a duty to provide a standard level of care. If they fail to do this, they could cause a patient avoidable harm.

You could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim if the following criteria apply:

A doctor owed you a duty of care.
The doctor failed to provide the correct standard of care, causing the cancer misdiagnosis.
Consequently, the misdiagnosis meant that your condition worsened or resulted in you suffering from avoidable harm.

If you are found by our advisors as potentially eligible to make a claim, they could connect you with one of Medical Negligence Assist’s panel of solicitors. A lawyer could help you to navigate the claims process and build your case.

To begin your compensation claim today, please:

Call us on 0800 652 3087
Fill out our contact form to begin your claim online
Interact with our live chat feature

Select A Section

What Is Colon Cancer?
Colon Cancer Symptoms
Colon Cancer Causes And Risk Factors
Getting Treatment For Colon Cancer
Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Amounts
Get Help Making A Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis Claim

What Is Colon Cancer?

The function of the colon is to separate water and nutrients from partially digested food as it travels through your digestive system. Colon cancer affects the colon and is also called bowel cancer.

The NHS states that bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer that gets diagnosed in the UK. Most people diagnosed with bowel or colon cancer are over the age of 60. However, young people can also suffer from the disease.

Continue reading to find out how colon cancer could be misdiagnosed and what effect that could have on your health.

What Is Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis?

Colon cancer misdiagnosis can occur when a doctor mistakes the symptoms of colon cancer for another medical condition. These types of medical errors could lead to the delayed diagnosis of colon cancer. This can then prolong the time it takes for patients to receive the colon cancer treatment they require.

Getting an earlier diagnosis could ensure that the condition does not spread and that you get the appropriate treatment that you need. If treatment is delayed, cancer could spread to different areas of the body and could affect the form of treatment that a patient may require.

Cancer Research UK explains that advanced bowel cancer could spread to:

The liver
The lungs
Tissue lining in the stomach
Lymph nodes – if in the neck, this could put pressure on your spinal cord and cause damage.

Colon cancer misdiagnosis caused by medical negligence could contribute to a wrongful death. For more information on the process of claiming, speak with an advisor today.

Bowel Cancer Statistics

The charity Cancer Research UK provides bowel cancer statistics, showing the following:

There was an average of 42,886 new cases of bowel cancer in the UK each year between 2016 and 2018.
Furthermore, there were 16,808 deaths from bowel cancer in the UK between 2017 and 2019.
From 2013 to 2017, 53% of people with bowel cancer survived 10 years or more in England.
And 54% of bowel cancer cases in the UK were preventable.

Colon Cancer Symptoms

The symptoms of bowel cancer include the following:

Stool contains blood
Abdominal pain
A persistent change in bowel habits
Stomach discomfort and bloating bought on by eating

These symptoms can be shared with other illnesses, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). It is important to go to your GP for a diagnosis if you are experiencing any of the symptoms of bowel cancer.

What Are The Early Stages Of Colon Cancer?

Unfortunately, colon cancer usually has no symptoms during the early stages of the disease. Therefore, the NHS provides a bowel cancer screening programme available for everyone in England aged between 60 and 74 years. The programme aims to help the NHS detect bowel cancer at an early stage.

If a colon cancer misdiagnosis caused by a medical professional breaching their duty of care has resulted in you sustaining avoidable harm, contact our team of advisors.

Colon Cancer Causes And Risk Factors

As mentioned previously, Cancer Research UK states that over half of bowel cancer cases in the UK are preventable. Therefore, we will look at what could increase your risk of developing colon cancer.

The NHS explains some factors and causes that could make you more likely to develop bowel cancer:

Older adults are more likely to develop bowel cancer; more than 9 out of 10 cases develop in adults over 50 years old.
Having a family history of bowel cancer
Eating a diet high in red meats
Smoking
Frequently drinking large amounts of alcohol
Inactivity
Being overweight or obese
Suffering from a digestive disorder that affects the bowel

Getting Treatment For Colon Cancer

The NHS explains that the stage of bowel cancer will affect the treatment you receive. Doctors may be able to remove colon cancer with surgery if colon cancer is detected early.

However, if colon cancer progresses to a more advanced stage, doctors may use different methods of cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. If the colon cancer is untreatable, doctors may give a patient end-of-life care.

Can You Claim A Cancer Misdiagnosis Payout

You could be eligible to claim compensation for the misdiagnosis of cancer if it was caused by medical negligence and resulted in you experiencing avoidable harm.

However, it is important to know that not all cases of misdiagnosis are caused by a doctor failing to provide the correct standard of care. For example, test results could have come back as unclear, or your symptoms could be difficult to diagnose, which led to the failure to diagnose your cancer.

If you wish to claim compensation for a colon cancer misdiagnosis, please call our helpline today to see if you are eligible to claim. Our advisors could provide you with some insight into whether you have a valid medical negligence claim.

Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Amounts

If your colon cancer misdiagnosis claim is successful, you could be eligible to receive two heads of compensation, which are called general and special damages.

General damages compensate for the physical and mental pain and suffering that the medical negligence caused.

Solicitors use compensation brackets from the Judicial College guidelines (JCG), updated in April 2022, to help them value medical negligence settlements. We used the JCG to create the table below to provide a guide to compensation amounts for different injuries that could be caused by medical negligence; we’ve chosen to do this instead of including a medical negligence compensation calculator. However, it is important to remember that the payout you receive may vary depending on the details of your claim.

Type Of Injury & Severity	Damages	About The Injury
Bowel Injury (a)	Up to £184,200	The person has lost control of bowel and urinary function. There may be further medical complications.
Bowel Injury (b)	Up to £150,110	The person will have lost the natural function of the bowels. Therefore, they will depend on a colostomy.
Bowel Injury (c)	In the region of £79,920	Cases of passive incontinence and faecal urgency. Symptoms are persistent after surgery and cause embarrassment or distress to the person.
Bowel Injury (d)	£44,590 to £69,730	An injury impairing the bowel function. A temporary colostomy could be necessary.
Bowel Injury (e)	£12,590 to £24,480	Penetrating injuries which cause some permanent bowel damage. Natural bowel function will return.
Back Injury - Severe (a)(i)	£91,090 to £160,980	The person will suffer serious consequences, such as disability and severe back pain, due to damage of the spinal cord.
Bladder (b)	Up to £140,660	Total loss of control and function
Bladder (c)	£63,980 to £79,930	Seriously impaired control and function over the fairly long-term.
Lung Disease (b)	£70,030 to £97,330	The person will have lung cancer, meaning they will suffer severe pain and impairment of quality of life.
Mental Anguish	£4,670	The person will have feared a reduction in their life expectancy or impending death.

In addition, you may receive special damages to reimburse you for past and future expenses that your injuries caused. For example, you could be compensated for the loss of earnings incurred by the harm caused by medical negligence if you had to take time off work to cope with your condition.

You must provide evidence of any special damages that you claim, for example, payslips or bank records. A solicitor can help you in the process of collecting evidence in support of your claim; speak with an advisor to see if you could be connected with a lawyer from our panel.

Get Help Making A Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis Claim

If medical negligence caused your colon cancer misdiagnosis, which resulted in you sustaining harm, you could be eligible to claim compensation.

Speak to our advisors to find out whether your claim could be valid. If they find that it could be, they may connect you with a solicitor from our panel.

What Are The Benefits Of No Win No Fee Claims?

You could be offered a type of No Win No Fee agreement, called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), with a solicitor. This means you usually don’t pay upfront or ongoing charges for a solicitor’s services. Also, you will generally not pay for their services if your claim is unsuccessful.

On the other hand, if your claim is successful, a solicitor takes a small percentage of your compensation. The law caps the amount they can take to stop you from being overcharged.

To begin your colon cancer misdiagnosis claim, please get in touch with us using the information below: