Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyer in NYC

Attorney Michael Gunzburg

Who Needs a Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyer in New York City?

You need a failure to diagnose cancer lawyer if a doctor's negligence allowed your cancer to progress to a more advanced stage. This happens when physicians ignore red-flag symptoms, fail to order appropriate tests, misread imaging or pathology, or don't follow up on abnormal results. Common scenarios we see throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island include doctors who dismiss breast lumps as benign without biopsies, ignore persistent coughs or unexplained weight loss, miss masses on mammograms or CT scans, fail to investigate abnormal Pap smears or blood work, or never inform patients about worrisome findings. If you discovered your cancer months or years after symptoms first appeared, and your doctor did nothing, you may have a case. When earlier detection would have meant less invasive treatment, better survival odds, or avoiding metastasis, that delay caused real, compensable harm.

What to Expect When You Work with a Failure to Diagnose Cancer Lawyer

Our process is designed to build the strongest possible case while you focus on your health and treatment.

 

Free Case Evaluation

We review your medical timeline, symptoms, test results, and diagnosis to determine whether a doctor's negligence caused a delay. You'll get an honest assessment of your case's strength, no charge, no obligation.

 

Expert Medical Review

We consult with board-certified oncologists, radiologists, and pathologists who review every record, imaging study, and lab result. These experts identify exactly where your doctor deviated from accepted standards and how that deviation harmed you.

 

Thorough Investigation

We obtain complete medical records, interview witnesses, and document your cancer's progression. We compare what your doctor did with what a competent physician would have done, and calculate what the delay cost you in treatment, prognosis, and quality of life.

 

Filing Your Claim

We file your medical malpractice lawsuit within New York's statute of limitations (typically 2.5 years from when you discovered the malpractice, thanks to Lavern's Law). If a public hospital is involved, we meet the strict 90-day Notice of Claim deadline.

 

Aggressive Negotiation or Trial

Most cases settle once defendants see the strength of our expert testimony and evidence. If they won't offer fair compensation, we're prepared to take your case to a jury. We've secured multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements for cancer misdiagnosis victims throughout New York City.

Benefits of Hiring Michael Gunzburg, P.C. for Your Failure to Diagnose Cancer Case

Maximum Compensation for Your Losses

You deserve compensation for every way the diagnostic delay harmed you. We recover damages for past and future medical expenses (surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, reconstructive procedures), lost wages and diminished earning capacity when treatment prevents you from working, pain and suffering from more invasive treatments and worse outcomes, loss of enjoyment of life and reduced life expectancy, and in wrongful death cases, financial losses to your family. Because we work on contingency, you pay nothing unless we win.

 

Accountability When Doctors Fail You

Medical malpractice cases aren't just about money, they're about holding negligent doctors responsible. When we prove a physician ignored your symptoms or failed to follow up, we send a message that such carelessness is unacceptable. Many of our clients tell us the validation matters as much as the settlement. They finally understand what happened, why their cancer progressed, and that they weren't imagining things when they knew something was wrong.

 

Expert Medical Testimony That Proves Negligence

Cancer misdiagnosis cases require top-tier expert witnesses. We work with board-certified oncologists who explain how earlier diagnosis would have changed your stage and prognosis, radiologists who identify missed masses on imaging, pathologists who review whether specimens were properly analyzed, and surgeons who detail what treatments you could have avoided. We've invested decades building relationships with the best medical experts in the country, and we bring that firepower to your case.

 

Understanding of Complex Medical Evidence

Failure to diagnose cancer cases turn on subtle details: Was the lump palpable? Did the imaging show an obvious mass? Were the pathology slides properly prepared and read? Should the doctor have ordered additional tests? We scrutinize every record, every test, every consultation note. We've uncovered altered medical records, missing reports, and evidence of cover-ups. If there's proof of negligence in your file, we'll find it.

 

39+ Years of Proven Results in NYC Medical Malpractice Cases

Michael Gunzburg, P.C. has secured multimillion-dollar recoveries for cancer misdiagnosis victims across New York City. We've won cases involving delayed breast cancer diagnoses, ignored vulvar cancer lesions, missed lung cancer on chest X-rays, and failed biopsies. Our track record speaks for itself: a $1.75 million settlement for delayed vulvar cancer diagnosis, a $1.5 million settlement for misdiagnosed breast cancer in a breastfeeding mother, a $1.2 million recovery for a doctor who dismissed a vulvar lesion as a yeast infection, and numerous seven-figure settlements for breast, cervical, and other cancer misdiagnoses. We know how to win these cases because we've been doing it for nearly four decades.

Common Questions About Failure to Diagnose Cancer Cases in New York City

When does a delayed or missed cancer diagnosis become malpractice in New York?

A failure to diagnose cancer becomes medical malpractice when three things happen: a doctor-patient relationship existed, the doctor deviated from accepted medical standards, and that deviation caused you harm. Harm means your cancer progressed to a higher stage, you needed more invasive treatment, your survival odds decreased, or you suffered complications you could have avoided. For example, if you reported a breast lump and your doctor never ordered a biopsy or follow-up imaging, that's a departure from the standard of care. If waiting another six months allowed the cancer to spread to your lymph nodes or become metastatic, that delay caused compensable harm. Courts evaluate what a reasonably competent doctor would have done in the same situation, not whether cancer is "hard to detect." Cancer is often challenging to diagnose, but that doesn't excuse ignoring symptoms, skipping tests, or failing to follow up.

How long do I have to file a failure to diagnose cancer lawsuit in New York?

You have 2.5 years from when you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) that medical malpractice caused your cancer diagnosis delay, but no more than seven years from the actual malpractice. This is known as Lavern's Law, which changed New York's statute of limitations specifically for cancer misdiagnosis cases. Before Lavern's Law, many patients lost their right to sue simply because they didn't discover the malpractice until after the deadline had passed. Now, the clock starts when you learn your doctor missed the cancer, not when the doctor actually failed to diagnose it. If a public hospital like NYC Health + Hospitals or a municipal facility is involved, you must also file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of discovering the malpractice. Missing these deadlines can destroy your case, which is why you should contact an attorney as soon as you suspect your cancer diagnosis was delayed. Even if you're still undergoing treatment, we can begin investigating while the statute of limitations clock is ticking.

What if my cancer was already advanced when I first saw the doctor, can I still have a case?

Yes, if earlier detection would have changed your outcome. The key question is whether a timely diagnosis could have avoided mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, metastasis, or reduced your survival odds. Even if your cancer was already present, a competent doctor should have caught it sooner through appropriate screening, testing, or follow-up. Medical experts will compare your cancer's stage at diagnosis with where it likely would have been months or years earlier if properly diagnosed. If earlier detection would have meant Stage I instead of Stage III, lumpectomy instead of mastectomy, or no chemotherapy instead of months of treatment, you've suffered compensable harm. Defense attorneys often argue "the outcome would have been the same anyway," but that's why we work with oncologists who can show exactly how the delay worsened your prognosis. If your treatment plan became more aggressive, your survival rate dropped, or your quality of life suffered because of the diagnostic delay, you deserve compensation, even if the cancer was always going to require some treatment.

What damages can I recover in a New York cancer misdiagnosis case?

You can recover compensation for every financial, physical, and emotional loss caused by the diagnostic delay. Economic damages include past and future medical expenses (additional surgeries, chemotherapy cycles, radiation treatments, reconstructive procedures, medications, home health care), lost wages while unable to work, loss of earning capacity if you can't return to your previous job, and out-of-pocket costs for travel, childcare during treatment, and medical equipment. Non-economic damages compensate you for pain and suffering from more invasive treatments, emotional distress and mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life when cancer limits your activities, disfigurement from surgeries or treatments, and shortened life expectancy. In wrongful death cases where the patient didn't survive, families can pursue damages for loss of financial support, funeral and burial expenses, and the decedent's conscious pain and suffering before death. Settlement amounts in cancer misdiagnosis cases often reach seven figures because the harm is profound, not just financially, but in every aspect of your life. We work with economists, vocational experts, and life care planners to document every dollar of loss and present it to insurers or juries.

How do lawyers prove a doctor was negligent in failing to diagnose cancer?

We prove negligence by showing what your doctor did, and what a competent doctor would have done, then demonstrating that the difference caused you harm. First, we obtain every medical record, imaging study, pathology report, and consultation note from your care. We create a timeline of your symptoms, visits, tests, and results. Then we consult with medical experts in oncology, radiology, pathology, and the relevant specialty who review these records and identify departures from the standard of care. For example, a breast cancer expert might testify that any palpable lump in a 45-year-old woman requires a biopsy within two weeks, not "watchful waiting" for six months. A radiologist might demonstrate that a mass was clearly visible on a mammogram but was never mentioned in the report. A pathologist might show that tissue samples were inadequately prepared or misread. We also look for evidence of ignored red-flag symptoms, failure to follow clinical guidelines, missing or altered records, and lack of informed consent or follow-up. Medical malpractice cases turn on expert testimony, which is why we work with the best specialists in the country. When a top oncologist tells a jury "no competent doctor would have ignored these symptoms," that testimony is powerful, and often leads to settlements before trial.

What types of cancer misdiagnosis do you handle?

We represent victims of delayed or missed diagnoses for all cancer types throughout New York City. The most common cases involve breast cancer (ignored lumps, misread mammograms, failure to biopsy suspicious masses), cervical cancer (abnormal Pap smears never followed up, failure to test for HPV), colon cancer (ignored rectal bleeding or anemia, failure to recommend colonoscopy), lung cancer (masses on chest X-rays dismissed or overlooked), ovarian cancer (symptoms attributed to other conditions without proper imaging), pancreatic cancer (vague symptoms ignored until disease is advanced), skin cancer (atypical moles never biopsied, melanoma misdiagnosed as benign), testicular cancer (lumps dismissed without ultrasound or tumor markers), thyroid cancer (nodules not properly evaluated or biopsied), and vulvar or vaginal cancer (lesions treated as yeast infections without biopsy). No matter what type of cancer your doctor failed to diagnose, the principles are the same: Did the doctor recognize warning signs? Did they order appropriate tests? Did they follow up on abnormal results? Did they inform you of concerning findings? If the answer to any of these questions is no, and that failure allowed your cancer to progress, you may have a case.

Do I need a lawyer if my doctor admits they made a mistake?

Yes, absolutely. Even when doctors apologize or acknowledge an error, their malpractice insurance carrier will fight your claim aggressively. Insurers employ teams of lawyers whose job is to minimize payouts, or deny them entirely. They'll argue the delay didn't change your outcome, that you had pre-existing risk factors, or that the cancer was undetectable. Without an experienced medical malpractice attorney and strong expert testimony, you'll likely receive a lowball settlement offer that doesn't come close to covering your losses. Remember: your doctor's apology doesn't pay for chemotherapy, reconstructive surgery, lost wages, or years of shortened life expectancy. Insurance companies count on unrepresented victims accepting inadequate settlements because they don't know what their case is truly worth. We know what cancer misdiagnosis cases are worth because we've won them for nearly 40 years. We also know how to counter every defense tactic insurers will use. Medical malpractice law in New York is complex, with strict procedural requirements, expert testimony rules, and damage caps in certain situations. One misstep can destroy your case. That's why you need an attorney who focuses on medical malpractice, not just any personal injury lawyer, but someone who knows cancer cases inside and out.

How much does it cost to hire a failure to diagnose cancer lawyer?

Nothing upfront. Michael Gunzburg, P.C. handles all failure to diagnose cancer cases on a contingency fee basis, which means we only get paid if we win your case. There are no hourly fees, no retainers, and no out-of-pocket costs while your case is pending. We advance all expenses for medical experts, record retrieval, depositions, and trial preparation. If we don't recover compensation for you, you owe us nothing, not even reimbursement for the costs we've covered. When we do win (through settlement or verdict), our fee is a percentage of the recovery, typically 33-40% depending on the case's stage and complexity. This arrangement ensures that everyone, regardless of financial means, can afford experienced legal representation against well-funded insurance companies and hospital systems. We also provide free consultations, so you can learn about your rights and your case's potential value without any financial risk. During that consultation, we'll explain exactly how fees work, what expenses to expect, and what percentage we'd take if we win. There are no hidden costs and no surprises, just honest advice about whether you have a case worth pursuing.

Areas We Serve

Michael Gunzburg, P.C. represents failure to diagnose cancer victims throughout New York City. We serve clients in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, from financial district offices to neighborhood clinics to major teaching hospitals. If a New York City doctor's negligence allowed your cancer to progress, we can help. Whether your doctor practices in Midtown Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn, Astoria, Fordham, or St. George, we'll hold them accountable. We also handle cases involving public hospitals (NYC Health + Hospitals), private medical groups, and individual practitioners throughout the five boroughs. Location doesn't matter, what matters is whether your doctor's failure to diagnose cancer caused you harm.

Other Medical Malpractice Services We Offer

At Michael Gunzburg, P.C., we handle all types of medical malpractice cases throughout New York City. If you or a loved one has been harmed by negligent medical care, we can help:

• Birth Injuries & Cerebral Palsy
• Surgical Errors
• Misdiagnosis
• Hospital Negligence
• Anesthesia Errors