Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer

This guide will explain how to claim compensation for failure to diagnose prostate cancer. If you’ve been harmed by medical negligence relating to the diagnosis of cancer, then you may be able to claim compensation for this.

failure to diagnose prostate cancer

Failure to diagnose prostate cancer guide

Cancer is a time-sensitive disease, which means that it can get progressively worse without treatment; therefore, a late diagnosis of prostate cancer can be harmful and in some cases fatal and lead to a wrongful death.

If you’d like to know whether you can claim compensation for the misdiagnosis of cancer, don’t hesitate to contact us. If you are eligible to claim, we can appoint our panel of knowledgeable solicitors to work on your claim.

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What Is Prostate Cancer Misdiagnosis?

The prostate is a small gland in the pelvis. It’s part of the male reproductive system. Most cases of prostate cancer develop in men who are 50 years old or older.

If you have symptoms of prostate cancer, you should seek medical attention. When you receive medical attention from someone who is medically trained, they owe you a duty of care. This means that they need to provide care of a minimum standard of care. If they deviate from this standard, and you’re harmed unnecessarily as a result, then you could claim.

Sometimes, harm is necessary for treating medical conditions. For example, many kinds of cancer will require chemotherapy as treatment. When you undergo chemotherapy, this can make you ill. However, if this is necessary in order to treat you, you would not be able to claim for this.

You also cannot claim for a misdiagnosis causing harm that did not result from a breach of duty of care. For example, your illness may not have exhibited symptoms that are typical of the condition you’re suffering from. As a result, you are misdiagnosed even though the doctor delivered the right level of care.

For more information on claiming after failure to diagnose prostate cancer, speak with our team today.

Prostate Cancer Symptoms

The first signs of prostate cancer are usually not noticeable. However, the symptoms of this condition can become noticeable when cancer has become large enough to affect the urethra.

Prostate cancer symptoms include:

  • Straining when you urinate
  • The urge to urinate more often
  • After going to the toilet, your bladder does not feel properly emptied

If you experience these symptoms, you may have prostate cancer. Please seek medical attention.

If your cancer has been misdiagnosed because of a breach of duty of care, and this late diagnosis or missed diagnosis has caused harm to your health, you may be able to claim. Speak with an advisor today for free legal advice on claiming for failure to diagnose prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer Statistics

These statistics from the charity Cancer Research UK look at how common prostate cancer in the UK is.

  • Between 2016 to 2018, there were 52,254 new cases of prostate cancer a year, on average.
  • Between 2017 to 2019, there were 12,039 deaths from prostate cancer.
  • Moreover, between 2013 and 2017, 78% of people with prostate cancer survived the disease in England for 10 years or more.

Diagnosis And Treatment

If a patient is showing the signs of prostate cancer, a GP may carry out the following examinations:

  • Carry out a digital rectal examination (DRE)
  • Carry out a PSA test to check for prostate-specific antigen
  • Take a urine sample to see if you have a urinary tract infection (UTI)

After that, a patient may be referred to a hospital for further tests to diagnose prostate cancer. These include an MRI scan or a biopsy.

Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer

Doctors may fail to diagnose prostate cancer for a number of reasons, including:

  • A GP may not take a patient’s prostate cancer symptoms seriously and do the necessary tests. This could be an example of GP negligence.
  • Likewise, a GP can make an error when carrying out tests to diagnose a patient’s prostate cancer. For example, they may carry out a DRE incorrectly causing them to misdiagnose the condition.
  • Hospital negligence may cause a diagnostic test, such as an MRI scans to be performed incorrectly. Therefore the negligence causes a delayed diagnosis of cancer.
  • A diagnostic test may be performed correctly, but the results are misinterpreted. For example, a doctor might read the results of a biopsy incorrectly.

This is not an exhaustive list. If you suspect that you’ve been affected by medical negligence in a way we have not mentioned, don’t worry; one of our advisors can assess the validity of your failure to diagnose prostate cancer claim for free. They could connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel if it’s valid.

Can You Claim For The Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer?

To make a successful prostate cancer misdiagnosis claim, you will need to provide proof of medical negligence and show that the following criteria apply:

  • You were a patient; therefore, the doctor who treated you owed you a duty of care.
  • You received substandard care from a doctor, which meant they failed to diagnose your prostate cancer.
  • Consequently, the prostate cancer medical misdiagnosis harmed you unnecessarily. For example, your cancer may have developed to an advanced stage meaning you needed more invasive treatment such as surgery, which you would not have needed otherwise.

Moreover, you will need to start your claim within the medical negligence claims time limit. Normally, this is three years from the date of the incident or the date of knowledge. However, some exceptions can apply; our advisors can tell you more about this if you get in touch.

Please call our helpline, and we can offer you legal advice about making a medical negligence claim for failure to diagnose prostate cancer.

What Could You Claim For The Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer?

If you make a successful medical negligence claim, the defendant will pay you general damages. General damages compensate you for the pain and suffering caused by your injuries.

We used Judicial College compensation guidelines to create the table. This is a publication that’s used by legal professionals to help them assign value to claims.

You can use this table to estimate how much compensation you can claim for prostate cancer misdiagnosis. However, the final amount of compensation you receive will depend on many factors and may vary from the amount shown below.

InjuryCompensationNotes
BowelsUp to
£150,110
Total loss of function. The injured person will be colostomy dependent.
Bladder Up to
£140,660
Total loss of control and function
Bladder £63,980 to
£79,930
Impaired control. Some pain, and the injured person will struggle with some incontinence.
Bladder£23,410 to £31,310
Almost total recovery, but natural function will be affected in the fairly long-term future.
Reproductive System - Male £114,900 to
£148,320
Where a young person becomes totally sterile and completely loses sexual function.
Reproductive System - Male In excess of £144,420The total loss of the reproductive organ(s).
Reproductive System - Male £56,080 to
£71,350
A case of sterility that is uncomplicated, does not cause impotence and doesn't come with aggravating features, where the injured party is a childless young person.
Reproductive System - Male £17,960 to £36,740

Similar to the bracket above but here, the injured party may have planned to have more children. Severe mental impact will bring this to the top of the bracket.
Reproductive System - Male £20,070 to £22,580
Orchidectomy which causes some mental impact but doesn't result in impotence or lack of sexual function.
Reproductive System - Male £6,610 to
£18,680
Where an older person becomes sterile but would not have had children in any case, or where impotence occurs that can be medically treated.

Sometimes, you can also claim special damages, which is compensation to reimburse you for the costs associated with your injuries. For example, you may be able to claim back the cost of travelling to hospital appointments. If your condition meant that you had to take time off work, then you could claim back the value of any lost earnings.

For more information on how claims are valued, speak with an advisor today. They’ll be happy to give you free legal advice about the process of claiming for failure to diagnose prostate cancer.

Get Help Claiming For The Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer

If the failure to diagnose prostate cancer harmed you, you might be eligible to claim compensation. We can connect you with a solicitor to handle your claim if you have legitimate grounds to claim compensation. What’s more, there is the option to make a No Win No Fee medical negligence claim.

No Win No Fee means that you will pay a success fee if the panel of solicitors wins their claim. But, if your claim isn’t a success, you will not have to pay a success fee. Furthermore, you won’t have to pay an upfront solicitors fee, or anything as the claim progresses.

To begin your No Win No Fee claim for prostate cancer misdiagnosis, please get in touch with us today:

  • Call our clinical negligence claims helpline on 0800 652 3087
  • Visit our website to start your claim online
  • You can also use our live chat feature to ask us a question about claiming

Cancer Claims And Support Resources

Advice from the NHS for males living with prostate cancer

An NHS guide to prostate problems

Advice on prostate cancer from Macmillan Cancer Support

Other Misdiagnosis Claims

Thank you for reading our guide to claiming compensation for failure to diagnose prostate cancer.

Writer Hana Clarke 

Publisher Fern Stiles