We recently had a veteran contact us about a misdiagnosis. The veteran had a history of a certain type of cancer, and when he presented to the care provider with what appeared to the veteran to be a reoccurrence, the care provider diagnosed him with something entirely benign. Because of his medical history, the veteran felt that diagnosis was incorrect, so he pushed back. Eventually, the care provider relented and obtained a biopsy. Within about five weeks of the veteran’s initial presentation, they discovered it was, in fact, cancer and began treatment.
Because the veteran pushed back, they caught his cancer fairly early and the cancer was largely taken care of surgically. Had the veteran accepted the diagnosis of his care providers - despite his history with this type of cancer - the outcome would likely have been much worse.
Because of the nature of medical malpractice, we could not bring a claim for this veteran. His outcome was not worse (or much worse) than it would have been had the doctor obtained a biopsy on first presentation. Had it been worse, our firm may have taken the case and perhaps obtained some money for the veteran. We also would have made money for ourselves. Jokes about lawyers being bottom-dwellers aside, we would rather see our veterans healthy than make money off VA care providers negligence.
The bottom line for you is that it never hurts to ask for more testing or for a second opinion.
