Failure to Diagnose Cancer

Failure to Diagnose

One of the most important steps in preventing cancer is early detection. However, many people are diagnosed with late stage cancer due to a failure to accurately detect it at the early stages. This article discusses the reasons why this happens and how to prevent it.

Disparities in Care The study by the Harvard Medical School showed that around 25 percent of breast cancer cases were subject to care failures prior to diagnosis. These failures were attributed to improper or delayed examinations, which can lead to delays in finding the correct underlying cause. Ineffective cancer care is often associated with delays in diagnosis, treatments, and follow-up care, resulting in less successful outcomes for patients. Some examples include missing or misdiagnosing symptoms, poor treatment decisions, and the lack of follow-up monitoring after treatment ends. Moreover, inadequate communication among healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, and ancillary staff members, can also contribute to delayed diagnoses and failures in care. Additionally, it has been estimated that more than half of high-risk cancer patients do not receive extensive and evidence-based care due to financial and geographical barriers and other structural challenges within healthcare systems. Thus, equitable access to high-quality care becomes even more pronounced among race, socio-economic status, and geographically marginalized populations. In this context, policymakers should act to build a sustainable cancer care infrastructure that facilitates the efficient delivery of safe, reliable, person-centered, high-quality oncological care as required by patients and sustained over time.