Claiming For Cancer Misdiagnosed As Kidney Stones
By Stephen Hudson. Last updated 1st December 2023. In this guide, we’ll be exploring when you could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim after cancer is misdiagnosed as kidney stones. As you move through this guide, you will find a description of the duty of care that all medical professionals owe to their patients. If this duty of care is breached, leading to the patient suffering avoidable harm, it could result in a medical negligence claim.
The misdiagnosis of cancer could lead to harm, such as the worsening of your condition, pain and suffering and have an impact on future prognosis. Later in this guide, we will explore potential compensation figures that could be awarded for the avoidable harm suffered in a successful medical negligence claim.
At any time, you can contact our team for confidential legal advice relating to your medical negligence claim. They are available 24/7 to talk at a time that is convenient for you. Should an advisor assess your case and find that you may be eligible to bring forward a claim, they could put you in contact with one of our No Win No Fee solicitors.
You can:
- Contact us through our website
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Speak to one of our advisors using the live support feature on this page
Claiming For Cancer Misdiagnosis
Select A Section
- Eligibility For Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims
- How Could A Cancer Misdiagnosis Affect You?
- My Cancer Was Misdiagnosed As Kidney Stones – Do I Need Evidence To Claim?
- What Could You Claim If Your Cancer Was Misdiagnosed As Kidney Stones?
- No Win No Fee Misdiagnosis Claims
Eligibility For Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims
If your cancer was misdiagnosed as kidney stones, you may wonder if you are eligible to seek compensation. When a hospital or doctor agrees to provide you with treatment, they automatically owe you a duty of care. This means that the treatment they provide must meet a minimum standard.
If you suffer harm that could have been avoided due to a breach in this duty, you could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim. However, not every misdiagnosis of cancer occurs because of medical negligence.
To start a medical negligence claim for a cancer misdiagnosis payout, you must be able to prove that:
- A medical professional owed you a duty of care.
- This duty was breached.
- You suffered avoidable harm because of this breach.
Cancer misdiagnosis can occur when a medical professional attributes cancer symptoms to a different ailment leading to the wrong diagnosis being given. Some situations that could result in a cancer misdiagnosis include not sending a patient for any tests leading to pain in the abdomen being mistaken for kidney or misinterpreting test results.
One of the advisors from our team can check your eligibility for medical negligence compensation. Get in touch using the details at the top of the screen.
Time Limit For Misdiagnosis Claims
If you are eligible to seek compensation for cancer that has been misdiagnosed as kidney stones, you must start proceedings within the time limit. For medical negligence claims, the Limitation Act 1980 sets this as generally three years from the date of the incident or the date of knowledge. The latter is the date that you realised, or would have been expected to realise, that medical negligence occurred.
However, in some circumstances, there are exceptions. These include:
- The time limit is indefinitely suspended for those who lack the mental capacity to claim. During this time, a court-appointed litigation friend can claim on their behalf. However, if they regain the capacity to claim and one was not made for them, they will have three years from the date it was determined they recovered that capacity to begin proceedings.
- The time limit does not begin until the claimant turns 18. Prior to this, a litigation friend can start the claims process on their behalf. However, if the harmed party turns 18 and a claim was not made for them already, they will have three years from that date to launch one.
If you would like to find out if you are still within the limitation period for a medical negligence claim, speak with one of our advisors.
How Could A Cancer Misdiagnosis Affect You?
If your cancer is misdiagnosed as kidney stones or another condition, then this could potentially cause serious health problems. As we’ve already mentioned, you could not claim a cancer misdiagnosis payout for misdiagnosis alone; you must also be able to prove that it caused avoidable harm.
Potential consequences of a cancer misdiagnosis could include the following:
- The cancer could spread to a point where treatment is no longer an effective option, resulting in a reduction in life expectancy.
- If the cancer is misdiagnosed as a different condition in a patient, they may receive incorrect treatment, such as invasive surgeries and incorrect medications with severe side effects.
- The symptoms caused by the cancer could worsen and progress due to the lack of treatment, reducing your quality of life.
- A cancer misdiagnosis can also mean you don’t receive treatment causing your condition to worsen and spread to other areas of the body. According to Cancer Research UK, kidney cancer can spread to other tissues including the lungs, bones, brain and liver.
These are just a few examples of how a cancer misdiagnosis could cause you to suffer avoidable harm. Speak to our advisors today either online or on the phone to learn more about making a medical negligence claim.
My Cancer Was Misdiagnosed As Kidney Stones – Do I Need Evidence To Claim?
If your cancer was misdiagnosed as kidney stones, and you are eligible to make a medical negligence claim, you will need to gather evidence to support your case. Some examples of the evidence you could collect include:
- A copy of your medical records, stating when you were initially misdiagnosed with kidney stones and when you were diagnosed with cancer.
- Correspondence with the medical institution where the kidney stone misdiagnosis occurred.
- Any test results, such as from a blood or urine test.
- A diary detailing any symptoms you have been experiencing.
- The contact details of anyone who was present when you received your misdiagnosis.
- Evidence of any financial losses you have suffered due to the medical negligence – e.g. a copy of your payslips to prove a loss of earnings.
To learn more about how one of our solicitors could help you gather evidence if your cancer was misdiagnosed as kidney stones, please contact an advisor today.
What Could You Claim If Your Cancer Was Misdiagnosed As Kidney Stones?
If you make a successful claim for medical negligence, your cancer misdiagnosis payout could consist of two parts: general and special damages.
General damages compensate for the mental suffering and physical pain you suffered because your cancer was misdiagnosed as kidney stones due to medical negligence. When assigning value to medical negligence claims, legal professionals may refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them. This document provides guideline compensation figures for different types of harm.
In our table below, we look at a few figures from the 16th edition of the JCG. As each claim is unique, we’ve only provided it as a guideline. Please also take note that the first entry is an estimated figure for multiple injuries and is not taken from the JCG.
| Injury | Compensation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Serious Injuries Plus Special Damages | Up to £1,000,000+ | If you’ve sustained multiple serious injuries due to medical negligence, then you may be compensated for all of these plus any special damages, such as the cost of home care or loss of earnings. |
| Kidney (a) | £169,400 to £210,400 | Permanent, serious harm to both kidneys, or the complete loss of both. |
| Kidney (b) | Up to £63,980 | The person will be at significant risk of suffering from future urinary tract infection or a different total loss of the kidney’s natural function. |
| Kidney (c) | £30,770 to £44,880 | The person will have lost one of their kidneys. However, there will be no damage to the other. |
| Bowels (a) | Up to £184,200 | Cases found in this bracket involve double incontinence paired with other medical complications. |
| Bowels (b) | Up to £150,110 | Depending on the persons age, they will depend on colostomy as there has been a complete loss of natural function. |
| Lung Disease (a) | £100,670 to £135,920 | Cases of a young person with serious disability. There will be a probability of worsening over time leading to premature death. |
| Lung Disease (b) | £70,030 to £97,330 | Lung cancer leading to severe pain and impairment of function and quality of life, typically in cases of an older person. |
| Severe Psychological Injury (a) | £54,830 to £115,730 | The affected person will have marked problems coping with day to day life, and the prognosis will be very poor. |
| Moderate Brain Damage (c)(iii) | £43,060 to £90,720 | The person’s concentration and memory will both be affected, there is a small risk of epilepsy, their ability to work will be reduced and dependence on others, if there is any, will be very limited. |
Additionally, your settlement could include special damages. Under special damages, you could be compensated for the financial losses caused by the medical negligence. This could potentially include:
- Travel costs to attend medical appointments.
- Loss of earnings for time spent off work.
- Medical expenses, including prescriptions.
- Help at home.
If you would like to claim special damages, you should submit evidence of your expenses. For example, this could include receipts, invoices and payslips.
Speak with an advisor from our team to find out how much your claim for cancer misdiagnosis could be worth.
No Win No Fee Misdiagnosis Claims
A solicitor may offer to work on your cancer misdiagnosis claim under a No Win No Fee agreement. Specifically, one type of this agreement is called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). This could prove to benefit both you and your claim in the following ways:
- Firstly, your solicitor will discuss all terms of the agreement with you beforehand. Therefore, eliminating concerns, you may have about hidden payments relating to your solicitor’s services.
- You generally won’t be expected to pay for your solicitor’s services upfront, during your ongoing claim, or in the event it is unsuccessful.
- Alternatively, if your claim is successful, your solicitor can take a previously agreed-upon percentage of the medical negligence compensation. This is known as a success fee and is a small percentage capped by legislation.
You can get in contact with our team of advisors by doing one of the following:
- Contact us through our website
- Call us on 0800 073 8804
- Speak to one of our advisors using the live support feature on this page
Learn More About Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims
Read the following guides from our website to learn more:
- Bladder Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims
- Making A Compensation Claim After A Lung Cancer Misdiagnosis
- When Could You Claim For Pancreatic Cancer Misdiagnosis?
Additionally, you can explore these external guides:
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) – GOV.UK
- Cancer waiting times – NHS
- Ethical guidance for doctors – General Medical Council (GMC)
If you’d like to learn more about claiming after your cancer was misdiagnosed as kidney stones, speak to one of our advisors using the contact details above.
