What is Osteosarcoma Misdiagnosis?

Can my son claim osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation? He has had osteosarcoma misdiagnosed, despite numerous visits to a doctor with symptoms of bone cancer.

Osteosarcoma accounts for 35% of primary bone malignancies; however it is a relatively rare cancer involving approximately 450 cases of osteosarcoma each year in the UK. Such a rare cancer is unlikely to be seen by most doctors, making a misdiagnosis all the more likely due to inexperience in dealing with the condition.

There are a relatively high number of osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation claims made in the UK compared to other cases for misdiagnosis of bone cancer. When caught early, osteosarcoma can be effectively treated but when the condition is misdiagnosed and treatment is delayed, the condition can prove fatal, especially if allowed to spread to other parts of the body.

Osteosarcoma usually affects individuals between the ages of 10 and 24, although it is not restricted to this age group. An individual complaining of symptoms of osteosarcoma outside of this age range may not be considered as having the disease purely based on their age. Osteosarcoma also most commonly affects the knee, but can strike other bones making an osteosarcoma. When it affects an ‘atypical’ location a misdiagnosis becomes more likely.

Osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation can be claimed when the condition is misdiagnosed or a diagnosis is delayed, which causes a patient to come to harm. Provided that the misdiagnosis was an error that a competent doctor should not have made, and that the failure to diagnose osteosarcoma has resulted in a deterioration of the condition or harm coming to the patient, a claim for osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation will be possible.

An important qualification for any medical negligence claim, which is particularly relevant to osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation claims, is that the misdiagnosis must have decreased the chances of the bone cancer being effectively treated. Although survival rates for cancer have improved by a considerable degree over the past 30 years, there has been little change in survival rates for sufferers of osteosarcoma. If the delay in receiving treatment – chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or amputation of the affected limb – has not increased the chances of survival, an osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation claim may not prove to be successful.

To find out if your son is eligible to make an osteosarcoma misdiagnosis compensation claim – and if you can make it on your son’s behalf - you should speak with a medical negligence solicitor for advice. If it is possible to make a claim compensation for osteosarcoma misdiagnosis, a medical negligence solicitor will be able to maximise your chances of success.