How Does the Statute of Limitations in Florida Affect Claims for Cancer Misdiagnosis?

Cancer misdiagnosis happens when a doctor or another medical professional gives the wrong cancer diagnosis.

That could mean symptoms of cancer are diagnosed as another illness. For instance, the symptoms of throat cancer can be similar to those of tonsillitis.

Alternatively, a doctor or another medical professional could miss cancer symptoms entirely.

When misdiagnosis occurs, it can potentially be very harmful because the symptoms could be dismissed and therefore be left untreated or the wrong treatment could be provided.

If you experience a cancer misdiagnosis, you could at least claim compensation for medical malpractice. However, if you’re located in Florida, you need to know about how the Statute of Limitations affects claims for cancer misdiagnosis.

How does the Statute of Limitations affect cancer misdiagnosis claims?

In basic terms, Florida’s Statute of Limitations allows victims of cancer misdiagnosis, or any other type of medical malpractice, a period of two years to make a claim.

The actual date that the two years are counted from could include the date that your doctor failed to detect your symptoms or it could be any of the following:

• The date that your doctor neglected to conduct additional screenings to detect the presence of cancer.
• The date that your doctor failed to communicate with you or healthcare providers about your diagnosis.
• The date that your doctor provided a false-positive diagnosis.

What is the Discovery Rule?

Although the default period of the Statute of Limitations for making claims for cancer misdiagnosis is two years, there is an exception, called the Discovery Rule.

The rule is in place because it’s often difficult to exactly pinpoint the date at which the doctor or other healthcare professional made the error in detecting your cancer.

So, the Discovery Rule of Florida’s Statute of Limitations allows people who have been misdiagnosed to have an additional two years to make a claim from the point at which they discovered the medical error or the date that they should have discovered the mistake via due diligence.

With the Discovery Rule, you can potentially get up to four years to make a claim for cancer misdiagnosis.

Also, it’s worth noting that when the victim of cancer misdiagnosis is a child, Florida’s Statute of Limitations doesn’t bar a claim brought before the child’s eighth birthday.

Consulting an Expert Lawyer About Your Delayed or Incorrect Cancer Diagnosis

You won’t necessarily know if you have a period of two years or a period of up to four years until you contact a lawyer who can guide you in your legal options.

And because you could have the short time of two years to make a claim for cancer diagnosis, and therefore hopefully obtain compensation for the misdiagnosis, it’s imperative that you get in touch with an experienced law firm, such as delayedcancerdiagnosis.org, as soon as possible.

You’ll be barred from making a claim after the period of two or four years, and a couple of years can go by very quickly, so ensure you don’t leave getting in touch with an attorney until later down the line.

With a lawyer on board, he or she can review your circumstances, inform you of your options, and help you obtain the financial compensation you deserve as a victim of cancer misdiagnosis.

Cancer Prevention

Sadly, cancer can happen to anyone at any time. However, you can reduce the risk of getting cancer by changing elements of your lifestyle. In turn, you can prevent cancer misdiagnosis from happening.

To reduce the risk of getting cancer, you can:

• Quit smoking tobacco.
• Eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight.
• Stay physically active.
• Limit your consumption of alcohol
• Limit your consumption of processed meat.
• Protect yourself from the sun.