November is the official Lung Cancer Awareness month across the UK, with a hope of encouraging more people to recognise the symptoms of lung cancer, and visit their GP. Lung cancer is officially the most common cancer across the world, with almost 50,000 people being diagnosed with it across the UK each year. 

 

The new ‘follow my lead’ campaign has been introduced by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, running alongside awareness month, aiming to increase and improve conversations around lung cancer, and stressing the importance of an early diagnosis. 

As with all health conditions, the symptoms of lung cancer can often be mistaken for other illnesses and health problems. The development of lung cancer has been linked to smoking, poor diet, and exposure to asbestos, but the illness can affect anybody. 

 

 

One of the major problems in the diagnosis of lung cancer in the last 18 months is that many of the symptoms of lung cancer are similar to those of Covid-19. This means that many people displaying symptoms of lung cancer often avoid visiting their GP and instead choose to self isolate, thinking they might have Covid-19. 

 

However, if you are suffering from any of these symptoms, you should take a PCR test, and if it is negative, but your symptoms are still persisting, you should make an appointment with your GP as soon as possible. 

As with many cancers, life expectancy is very much linked to early detection and diagnosis of lung cancer. Lung cancer is the second most deadly type of cancer, with a huge 86% mortality rate within the first 5 years of diagnosis. 

 

It is because of this that early diagnosis, and the correct referrals and treatment are offered to you within the necessary time frame, are so important. 

 

 

Unfortunately, the diagnosis of lung cancer, and the performance of these diagnostic tests, are sometimes delayed, or carried out incorrectly. 

 

As a part of NHS regulations, if you have seen a medical professional and have presented symptoms of any of the health conditions or injuries that MRI scans are used to diagnose, including cancer, then you should be referred to have an MRI scan within six weeks of this appointment. 

 

However, with some particular illnesses, as well as cancers that appear to be aggressive, you should be given an MRI scan sooner than this.  When this does not happen, or when mistakes are made in the process, your lung cancer could progress unnecessarily due to negligence on behalf of the NHS staff. Alternatively, if you have had the scan within the allocated wait time but have later found out that the MRI scan was performed wrong, or the results were read and interpreted wrong by a medical professional, then you could also be able to make a claim for financial compensation through a medical negligence claim, otherwise known as a radiology negligence claim. 

 

 

If you or one of your loved ones have suffered further injury or illness, or even passed away, as a result of cancer misdiagnosis in any way, you could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim for financial compensation with our specialist no win no fee medical negligence solicitors. 

 

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with MG Legal’s specialist cancer misdiagnosis solicitors as soon as possible, for a free no obligation discussion of your potential no win no fee claim. Our team have over 30 years’ experience in working for clients just like you, and have a success rate of over 99% for the medical negligence claims we accept, on a no win no fee basis. We know that no amount of financial compensation can bring back lost time, or even bring a loved one back, but it can help you to achieve the compensation that you deserve, and leave one less worry for you and your family through this difficult time.