Category: Cancer Misdiagnosis Articles

Medical mistakes are responsible for an estimated 251,000 to 450,000 deaths in the US each year. Diagnostic errors are the most common type of medical mistake by health care providers. However, there are multiple types of diagnostic errors that could harm you or a loved one. The different types of diagnostic errors include but are […]

Fox 4, a Fox affiliate in Beaumont, Texas recently featured a story involving a colon cancer misdiagnosis where a doctor mistakenly diagnosed canceras hemorrhoids. The story was part of an investigation Fox 4 was conducting on how colon cancer is impacting the younger generation. The woman whose colon cancer was misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids is only […]

When Marilu Henner’s husband, Michael Brown, began showing signs of bladder cancer, despite his doctor claiming it was not serious, she pushed him to get a second opinion. The second opinion revealed what Michael’s doctor had missed, which is that he had a life-threatening form of bladder cancer. Thankfully, Michael’s bladder cancer was treatable and […]

Could thyroid cancer screenings be doing more harm than good? NPR reported on a story involving the results of a US Preventative Services Task Force investigation that concluded just that. According to the NPR report, none of the major medical organizations recommend thyroid cancer screenings. In addition, in a US Preventative Services Task Force report […]

Breast cancer misdiagnosed as a skin rash? While it might seem unlikely, it happened to a woman recently, and now she is working to raise awareness to help prevent others from suffering the same fate. Two years ago, the woman, whose story was featured in a KARE-TV report, noticed a slight discoloration that looked similar […]

Earlier this year, PBS featured a report revealing that poor women diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to lose their jobs during cancer treatment. Why Are Poor Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer Losing Their Jobs? In addition to telling the personal stories of women who were diagnosed with breast cancer and lost their jobs […]

A 10-year-old girl from Memphis, Tennessee was misdiagnosed with strep throat and suffered a fatality from leukemia days later. After two days of complaints of severe stomach pain and discomfort, the girl’s mother brought her to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with strep throat and administered an antibiotic shot. Within 24 hours of the girl’s […]

Recently, we have featured blog posts highlighting instances of cancer misdiagnosis, including: Doctors mistaking cancer for mononucleosis A woman’s cancer being misdiagnosed as a migraine 14 times Breast cancer misdiagnosis leading to unnecessary breast removal surgery We trust medical professionals to not make mistakes as devastating as misdiagnosing cancer. However, as the above cases indicate, medical […]

There was recently an article featured in Refinery29, a digital media outlet that focusses on women’s issues, that raised the questions as to whether you should do your own breast exam. As the Refinery29 piece points out, medical professionals have been recommending that patients perform their own breast examinations for decades. However, now it appears […]

Could a doctor really mistake cancer for mononucleosis? That may have been the case recently when a 6-year-old girl was the victim of a cancer misdiagnosis involving her doctors mistaking symptoms of metastatic neuroblastoma for mono. How Did Doctors Mistake Cancer for Mononucleosis? Per KSDK-TV, a few years after she was born, the 6-year-old girl began […]