SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS SUCH AS INCOME, AGE, RACE, CULTURE AND ETHNICITY PLAY MAJOR ROLE IN CASES INVOLVING DELAYED DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN
Studies conducted over the past decade by some of the world’s leading health and medical research institutions provide incontrovertible proof that women whose breast cancer is diagnosed early have fewer complications, and substantially higher survival rates, than do women whose breast cancer diagnosis is delayed.
“Access to primary care and mammography screening services,” Jay W. Dankner, managing partner of the top New York delayed breast cancer diagnosis law firm of Dankner Milstein, P.C. said, “is critically important for early detection.
“Studies show,” he added, “that socio-economic factors such as low household income, age, race, culture and ethnicity at both the individual and neighborhood levels, and limited access to convenient transportation, could put women with breast cancer at higher risk of a delayed diagnosis, as can lack of affordable access to quality healthcare.”
According to the National Centers for Disease Control (CDC), uninsured women are less likely than women with adequate health insurance coverage to get regular annual mammograms and other tests and screenings for the disease. As such, women with higher incomes and health insurance are less likely to be diagnosed at later stages of breast cancer when treatment options and effectiveness are compromised.
Dankner Milstein has handled many cases where an earlier diagnosis could have made a difference in the treatment modality, or the eventual outcome and formed the basis of a malpractice lawsuit.
“Easy access to primary care physicians,” Dankner said, “is the first line of defense in the general delivery of quality healthcare. As such, regular check-ups by a personal, or family physician, is critical when it comes to issues involving preventive care and early diagnosis of serious diseases like breast cancer.
“I know, for a personal fact, that early detection can and does saves lives,” Dankner added. His wife is an 18-year breast cancer survivor and now an advocate for early screenings and mammographies.
In one recent report, the CDC said that primary care physicians are the first line of defense for women in the healthcare delivery system and that regular visits to these essential healthcare providers is critical with respect to a woman’s chances of her breast cancer being detected in time for interventions to be effective.
Most preliminary screenings for breast cancer and/or referrals for breast cancer detection are conducted in the office of primary care physicians. “Primary care physicians are the ones who typically refer patients to mammography services,” Dankner said.
If you think you have been the victim of a delayed diagnosis of breast cancer, you should contact one of our lawyers at Dankner Milstein for a free consultation at 212-751-8000 or office@dmesq.com. Our firm has recovered more than $500 million for clients we’ve represented; and has secured more than two hundred (200) verdicts and settlements of one million dollars or higher.
