Skin Cancer

Skin cancer involves the abnormal growth of skin cells. It is the most common form of cancer. Health care providers in Upstate New York may be held accountable for a failure to diagnose or treat skin cancer. If you are considering a skin cancer claim, you should talk to an Upstate New York skin cancer lawyer. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, we have the medical malpractice and trial experience necessary to pursue damages on your behalf.

Skin cancer comes in three types. These are melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and basal cell carcinoma. It is important to check your skin for any suspicious changes so that you can have a doctor look at them. For instance, you should get checked out if one of your moles grows or changes in appearance. Errors or mutations in the DNA of skin cells can cause cells to grow abnormally and create a mass. While anyone can get skin cancer, certain factors increase the odds. These factors include abnormal moles, precancerous skin growths, radiation exposure, weakened immune system, excessive sun exposure, and a history of sunburns. Malignant skin cancer may metastasize or cause disfigurement if left without treatment.

To show liability for medical malpractice related to your skin cancer, you will need to prove that the defendant owed you a professional standard of care, the defendant departed from the professional standard of care, the defendant’s departure was the legal cause of your harm, and damages resulted. A skin cancer attorney in Upstate New York can gather evidence to support these elements. Medical errors related to skin cancer can include failing to diagnose skin cancer, switching medical results between patients, failing to provide a test result to a patient, biopsy contamination, misinterpretation of test results, and errors in treatment.

Your skin cancer treatment is most likely to be successful if the skin cancer is detected promptly. Usually, the professional standard of care for people with genetic risk factors and a family history of skin cancer involves early, regular screenings for melanoma. Sometimes doctors lack familiarity with the appearance of early melanoma lesions and fail to biopsy them or fail to provide a referral, resulting in harm to a patient. In other cases, doctors make errors in selecting a treatment or carrying out the treatment.

New York follows the locality rule. Under this rule, the court will look at what a reasonably prudent doctor in the same specialty and geographic region as the defendant would have done when faced with a similar patient history and symptoms. For example, if a reasonably prudent dermatologist in Upstate New York would have biopsied your precancerous lesion, but your dermatologist ignored it, an Upstate New York skin cancer attorney can help you bring a claim.

Compensatory damages are meant to put you back in the place in which you would have been had there been no medical malpractice in connection with your skin cancer. They can include both economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses may include medical bills, lost income, and out-of-pocket costs that arose out of the malpractice. Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life.

If a loved one died as a result of medical malpractice involving the diagnosis or treatment of skin cancer, it may be appropriate to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Through a wrongful death lawsuit, family members may be able to recover the costs of a funeral and burial, along with pecuniary losses, like loss of anticipated earnings and loss of services.

When you go to see your doctor about a mole or lesion or other suspicious mark that has changed, you expect to be taken seriously and evaluated and treated according to professional standards. If you were harmed because of an Upstate New York doctor’s failure to diagnose or treat your skin cancer, you may be able to pursue damages by filing a lawsuit. You should hire the skin cancer lawyers at the Upstate New York firm of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We represent injured patients in Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca, Lyons, Oswego, Utica, Cooperstown, Oneida, Auburn, Binghamton, Wampsville, Watertown, Elmira, Lowville, Herkimer, and Canandaigua. Call DeFrancisco & Falgiatano at 833-200-2000 or complete our online form.