Thyroid Cancer Misdiagnosis Compensation Claims

Why will the Injuries Board Ireland not assess thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims when the error in diagnosis was due to a technical mistake?

Eoin P. Campbell, LL.B., Solicitor

Editor in Chief

Eoin P. Campbell

Even when the cause of the erroneous diagnosis is known and liability has effectively been admitted, the Injuries Board Ireland will decline to assess thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims because – for your claim for thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation to be successful – it would still require an expert physician to ascertain that your doctor made an incorrect diagnosis with the information that was available to him or her “at the time and in the circumstances”.

The Injuries Board assesses claims on tangible evidence alone and a claim for thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation will have to show that your doctor negligently based their diagnosis on the result of one incorrect test when other evidence may have been available to suggest you had a complaint other than thyroid cancer.

Furthermore, to assess how much compensation for the misdiagnosis of thyroid cancer you may be entitled to, it also has to be shown that you sustained an avoidable injury, a loss or the deterioration of an existing condition which will also be established by medical opinion if you have had an adverse reaction to the treatment prescribe for thyroid cancer in addition to the deterioration of the existing – undiagnosed – complaint and the emotional trauma of being told you had cancer.

Therefore, it will be necessary to pursue thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims with the assistance of a solicitor. If you engage the services of an experienced medical negligence solicitor, your claim will be professionally constructed and possibly resolved quicker than if your claim for compensation for the misdiagnosis of thyroid cancer had been assessed by the Injuries Board Ireland.

Your solicitor will write to your doctor, advising him or her that a claim for thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation is being made against them and supporting the Letter of Claim with the evidence compiled by the expert physician. As your doctor has already admitted that a mistake was made, the solicitor should have an admission of liability within a short period of time and be able to negotiate how much compensation for the misdiagnosis of thyroid cancer you should receive with the doctor´s medical insurance company.

As thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation claims should account for the physical pain you sustained, the emotional trauma of being told you had cancer, the impact both the physical and psychological injuries on your quality of life and the financial cost of the misdiagnosis, it is important that a solicitor with medical negligence experience should be engaged to assist with your claim for thyroid cancer misdiagnosis compensation and, as you only have a fixed amount of time in which to make your claim, it would be advisable to speak with a solicitor as soon as possible.