Cancer is a word that brings up a sense of anxiety in most people. It is no surprise that a female patient may think it is very reassuring when her physician notifies her that she only has fibrocystic breast changes and that there is no need to worry about the lump in her breast. Yet this reassurance should only negative results from proper diagnostic tests to rule out the chance of breast cancer. Else, the woman may not discover she has breast cancer until it is too late. Should a physician concludes that a lump in a woman's breast is merely a noncancerous cyst and it subsequently actually is breast cancer, the woman might have a legal claim for medical malpractice against that doctor.

Possibly some 80% of breast associated changes are not due to breast cancer. Additional, the majority of new breast cancer diagnosis happen in women over 50 years of age. It is hence not surprising that certain physicians will conclude that a lump found in the breast, particularly with a younger patient, as due to a cyst and not from breast cancer. The chances are in favor of such a diagnosis.

Unfortunately, there is more to the matter. In the event breast cancer is found before it can reach a late stage (for example, stage 0, stage I or stage II), the 5-year survival rate is usually more than eighty percent. The five-year survival rate is a statistical measure used by cancer specialists to identify the percentage of patients who survive the disease for a minimum 5 years following diagnosis. Therefore, a 5-year survival rate above eighty percent means that, statistically, over 80 out of every 100 patients with a less advanced stage breast cancer will, with appropriate treatment, survive the disease for at least five years after detection.

In the event that breast cancer spreads prior to diagnosis a female patient's likelihood of outliving the cancer for more than five years is dramatically diminished. When the cancer reaches stage 3, her odds are diminished to about fifty-four percent. If the cancer reaches stage 4, those chances drop to about twenty percent. Hence, eighty percent or greater with early detection as opposed to fifty-four percent or lower with delayed diagnosis.

It is expected that one in eight females will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the course of their lifetime. Cancer of the breast is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in females. Over one hundred ninety thousand females are predicted to be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year. Moreover over forty nine thousand females are expected to die of breast cancer this year. Given that women whose breast cancer is diagnosed while still in the early stages have a greater than eighty percent expectation of outliving the cancer for over five years subsequent to diagnosis, a question that follows is how many of those forty thousand or more females who will pass away of this disease this year would otherwise continue leading their lives if their cancer had been no delay in diagnosing their cancer.

By conducting a clinical breast examination a doctor simply is not able to accurately distinguish between a benign cyst and a cancerous growth. This is why a doctor ought to generally suggest that diagnostic testing be done immediately if a lump is discovered in the breast of a female patient. Examples of diagnostic tests can include an imaging study such as a mammogram or an ultrasound, or a sampling, such as by biopsy or aspiration. Each can fail to diagnose a cancer so it may be necessary to perform more than one test before cancer can be eliminated as the cause of the lump.

When a physician concludes that a mass in the breast of a female patient as only a benign cyst based only on a clinical breast examination, that physician puts the patient in jeopardy of not knowing she has breast cancer until it metastasizes. The failure to conduct appropriate diagnostic testing, like an imaging study such as a mammogram or ultrasound, or a sampling, such as a biopsy or aspiration, may constitute a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and might result in a medical malpractice case.