Breast Cancer Delayed Diagnosis

Not so much. CME is usually directed to updating physicians with the latest medical information, not the latest legal information. Occasionally, courses consider legal issues, like delay in diagnosis of breast cancer, but this is not common.

Any and every breast complaint, and any and every abnormality found on diagnostic imaging, needs to be fully explained to the satisfaction of the patient and the physician, both. If all questions, concerns, abnormalities, and problems are fully evaluated and fully understood as to cause and treatment, we would have very little problem with delay in diagnosis of breast cancer. Unfortunately, since most women have benign disease, there is a tendency to err on the side of hoping or believing that there is nothing seriously wrong.

Delay in diagnosis of breast cancer is the most common cause of medical malpractice litigation and settlement. It is a big problem, especially in young women and in women with inflammatory breast cancer. Mistakes related to errors in mammogram interpretation are also a source of delay in diagnosis.