Last Updated On 6th February 2025. This article will explore when you could be eligible to claim compensation following a head and neck cancer misdiagnosis by a medical professional. We will discuss the definition of medical negligence and the types of avoidable harm that you could suffer. Additionally, we will discuss how compensation payouts could be calculated and provide information on how working with a medical negligence solicitor could prove beneficial.
Every medical professional owes their patients a duty of care. This means they must provide care of a correct standard. Should they fail to do this, it could lead to a misdiagnosis and cause avoidable harm, such as a worsening of your condition. This is medical negligence.
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To learn more about making a cancer misdiagnosis claim, contact our team of advisers at a time convenient for you. They are available 24/7, and the consultation is free. Therefore, you can enquire about pursuing compensation for the avoidable harm you suffered after the misdiagnosis of cancer.
Find out more by:
- Completing our claim online form
- Phoning 0800 073 8804
- Using the live support feature below
Browse Our Guide
- Could You Claim For Head And Neck Cancer Misdiagnosis?
- Types Of Head And Neck Cancer
- Why Could Head And Neck Cancers Be Misdiagnosed?
- Estimated Payouts For Head And Neck Cancer Misdiagnosis
- Why Choose Our Solicitors To Claim For Head And Neck Cancer Misdiagnosis?
- Find Out More About Claiming For Neck And Head Cancer Misdiagnosis
When Could You Claim For Head And Neck Cancer Misdiagnosis?
According to the NHS, the term head and neck cancer covers more than 30 different areas where cancer can form. Each year, approximately 12,400 new cases are diagnosed in the UK.
You may be eligible to claim for a head and neck cancer misdiagnosis if you have suffered avoidable harm due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care. This avoidable harm could be physical or psychological.
If the care you received was inadequate and led to an incident in which you were harmed unnecessarily, you can begin to collect documentation to help prove medical negligence occurred. For instance, you could gather:
- A copy of your medical records
- Any prescriptions
- A journal recording the symptoms you experience
- Notes that could include information such as the names of doctors who treated you, locations where the treatment occurred, and the dates of your appointments
Evidence will help to prove medical negligence in a compensation case. It is important to state that medical negligence solicitors, along with providing other services, can help you to obtain and compile evidence. Speak to our team if you’d like to learn more.
Time Limits For Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims
According to the Limitation Act 1980, you must begin a medical negligence claim within:
- 3 years of the date that the medical negligence occurred.
- 3 years of the date of knowledge, which is when you learned of medical negligence
There are some exceptions to these time limits, such as when it involves a person under the age of 18 or one who lacks the mental capacity to claim. Speak to our advisers for more information about these exceptions in relation to your claim.
Types Of Head And Neck Cancer
Various types of cancer are covered by the umbrella term head and neck cancer. These can include:
- Laryngeal cancer – which affects the larynx.
- Mouth cancer – which is the most common type of head and neck cancer.
- Nasal and sinus cancer – which affects the nasal passages and sinuses, and can affect your sense of smell.
A head and neck cancer misdiagnosis could mean that cancers affecting your tongue, mouth, nose and throat go undiagnosed. If this occurs, cancer could have time to metastasize and spread to other organs. For example, Cancer Research UK explains that nasal cavity cancer can spread to the lungs, brain, bones or liver.
Read on to learn more about how head and neck cancer could be misdiagnosed due to a medical professional breaching their duty of care. Alternatively, contact our team if you have questions about cancer misdiagnosis claims.
Why Could Head And Neck Cancers Be Misdiagnosed?
It’s important to recognise that not every misdiagnosis will lead to a medical negligence claim. A medical professional could provide you with the correct standard of care, but a misdiagnosis still occurs due to factors outside of their control.
Below we will provide examples of how a medical professional could breach their duty of care, leading to a misdiagnosis:
- A GP does not listen to you when you clearly describe your symptoms and diagnoses you with a different condition without carrying out any tests.
- Your test results are mixed up with those of another patient. This means you receive a diagnosis intended for a different patient.
A misdiagnosis could lead to various harm. For example, if you are prescribed the wrong medication, you may suffer damaging side effects that you would not have experienced otherwise. You can contact our advisers for a free consultation if you’d like insight into your eligibility to pursue medical negligence compensation.
Estimated Payouts For Head And Neck Cancer Misdiagnosis
If you have suffered from a head and neck cancer misdiagnosis, you may be asking, ‘How much compensation may I be entitled to?’
Unfortunately, we cannot give you a specific figure at this time as many factors are considered when your compensation is being calculated. However, this section will explain what you may be eligible to claim compensation for and how your award is calculated.
Compensation for head and neck cancer misdiagnosis is generally split into two heads of claim, namely general damages and special damages.
The first head of claim, general damages, compensates you for the physical and mental suffering you have experienced as a result of the misdiagnosis. This award is typically calculated by a team of professionals who may refer to medical documents such as an independent medical assessor’s report.
They may also refer to guidelines presented by the Judicial College (JCG). The JCG is a document that presents guidelines for compensation awards. It lists injuries alongside their suggestive compensation brackets.
The table below provide examples from the JCG of potential awards, except from the top bracket. However, please note that this does not represent accurate figures as compensation varies in each medical negligence case.
| Type of Harm | Guideline Brackets | Further Details |
|---|---|---|
| Multiple Severe Injuries and Significant Financial Losses | Up to £1,000,000 plus | Person has suffered from multiple injuries of a severe nature and incurred significant financial losses |
| Very Severe Brain Damage (a) | £344,150 to £493,000 | Within this bracket, the person will display a small amount of, if any, evidence of a meaningful reaction to their environment and will require nursing care full time. |
| Moderate Brain Damage (c)(i) | £183,190 to £267,340 | The person will experience a personality change, an effect on their senses, and a moderate to severe intellectual deficit alongside further problems. |
| Lung Disease (a) | £122,850 to £165,860 | There will be serious disability in a young person along with a probability that their condition will worsen progressively and lead to premature death. |
| Lung Disease (b) | £85,460 to £118,790 | The person will typically be older and have lung cancer. This will cause them severe pain and impairment of their quality of life and function. |
| Loss of Sight in One Eye with Reduced Vision in the Remaining Eye (ii) | £78,040 to £129,330 | Complete loss of vision in one eye and reduced vision or additional problems such as double vision in the other eye. |
| Very Severe Facial Scarring (a) | £36,340 to £118,790 | There will be a very disfiguring cosmetic effect and severe psychological reaction in a relatively young person. |
| Total Loss of Hearing in One Ear | £38,210 to £55,570 | Cases at the higher end of the bracket will include associated problems such as tinnitus, dizziness and headaches |
| Total Loss of Smell and Significant Loss of Taste | £40,150 to £47,810 | Complete loss of smell and some impairment of taste. |
Special Damages
The second head of claim, special damages, compensates you for any financial losses you incurred as a result of your cancer misdiagnosis. However, you may only be eligible to claim special damages if you have suffered from a physical or psychological injury.
Some examples of what you may claim special damages for include:
- Loss of income
- Loss of holiday entitlement, pension attributions and bonuses
- Payments towards healthcare, childcare and travel
- Payments towards special equipment and home adjustments
When claiming special damages, you must provide evidence of the losses you have incurred, for example:
- Payslips
- Bank notes and credit card statements
- Bills and receipts
If you are struggling to obtain evidence, our experienced solicitors may be able to help you out.
Contact our friendly advisors to start your claim for head and neck cancer misdiagnosis today.
Why Choose Our Solicitors To Claim For Head And Neck Cancer Misdiagnosis?
You are not obligated to use the services of a legal professional to make a claim. However, a solicitor could guide you through the medical negligence claims process using their knowledge and experience. Also, they can help you to compile your case’s different elements and put forward a complete claim.
Furthermore, if you allow our advisers to assess your claim, they could find you may be eligible to pursue compensation. In this case, they could place you in contact with one of our medical negligence solicitors, who may offer you to enter into a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is one of the different kinds of No Win No Fee agreements. After agreeing to enter into a CFA, you typically don’t have to pay for your solicitor’s services upfront, for the duration of an ongoing claim or if your claim fails.
Your No Win No Fee solicitor can take a success fee from the compensation at the end of the process if your claim succeeds. This fee is a small legally capped percentage, ensuring that you always receive the majority of your compensation.
If you’d like to know more about using a No Win No Fee solicitor when bringing forward a medical negligence claim, you can contact our advisers at any convenient time. The team is available 24/7.
You can get in touch by:
- Completing our claim online form
- Phoning 0800 073 8804
- Using the live support feature below
Find Out More About Claiming For Neck And Head Cancer Misdiagnosis
Further guides from our website:
Clinical And Medical Negligence Claims
Finding The Best Medical Negligence Solicitors Near Me
How The Bolam Test Case Affects Medical Negligence Claims
External resources for more information:
NHS Constitution for England – UK government information about the rights owed to patients, staff and members of the public.
Good Medical Practice – Information from the General Medical Council (GMC) with ethical guidance for doctors.
Staging And Grading Head And Neck Cancer – Resource from Macmillan Cancer Support regarding head and neck cancer.
Learn more about care home claims if you or a loved one were harmed by care home negligence.
Thank you for reading this article about making a medical negligence claim following a head and neck cancer misdiagnosis. If you would like to know more, you can reach us using the details above.
