Oregon patients who have been diagnosed with cancer may have better outcomes if they are given detailed information about their condition. According to a British study of 10,000 cancer patients, people with more knowledge about the specific type of cancer that they had and how it was being treated were twice as likely to recover from their illness than patients who remained ignorant about the details of their illness.
Although knowledge is power for cancer patients, doing too much research into the potential side effects of a particular type of cancer has been shown to have a negative impact on patient health. Cancer researchers say that people who learn too many details about the potential side effects of their disease were 35 percent less likely to recover. An Australian study showed that depressed cancer patients had lower survival rates while people who remained balanced but not overly optimistic had the best outcomes.
One factor that has a significant impact on a cancer patient’s likelihood of recovering is whether or not they receive a correct and timely diagnosis. According to a study from 2014, around 28 percent of cancer diagnoses are flawed. Tests of certain cancers, such as to the lung or breast, are notoriously faulty. Researchers have found that errors occur in 75 percent of mammogram results and 71 percent of lung cancer scan results.
People who have been injured by a doctor’s failure to diagnose cancer correctly may be able to recover some financial compensation for their losses. A lawyer may be able to help a cancer patient to conduct a comprehensive investigation of their medical records in order to determine when the misdiagnosis occurred and which health care practitioners are responsible.