Can you Sue a Doctor for negligence in a cancer death?

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I am so very sorry for your loss.
I won't presume to know exactly how you are feeling at this moment but trust that I can relate, having lost my mother to lupus some time ago.
You have my condolences and my prayers.

To your question; it is absolutely your right and option to pursue any potential legal remedies that may be available to you, but if you choose to do so be mindful of two fundamental realities:

First: Doctors are very adept at covering anything that may be perceived as a "mistake". Likewise they are not inclined to make any admissions with regard to culpability.
That means, given your mother passed of a terminal illness, trying to prove the doctor negligently contributed to her demise will be an arduous task, to say the least.

Secondly: Success or failure in this effort is unlikely to provide you with the comfort and resolution you probably want most at this time.

That being said, my suggestion would be to talk to the doctors. Ask questions and insist on thorough answers. That, of course, may be easier said than done but could go a long way in helping you determine if they did drop the ball somewhere or conversely could help you come to terms with the quality of your mother's care.

In the meantime, while you grieve the loss try to remember to celebrate the life. You obviously loved your mother very much and that is definitely worth celebrating....Show more

I'm so sorry for the loss of your mother. I can't judge if what they did was OK or was negligent. It doesn't sound like it was ideal care, the perfect care we always hope our loved ones get. But it also doesn't sound crazy negligent, either. I'm sure the thought that maybe if things had been done differently, your mom would have survived, haunt you. But keep in mind that the first course of chemo or radiation is the best hope for long-term remission. If that doesn't provide a remission, then things don't look good for anything else doing so. It sounds like she never had any remission at all, and that that first course of chemo left plenty of disease still there, since a month later she still had significant disease. Should they have given her a different type of chemo? Dunno. But once the docs saw that the chemo was less than effective, then they know that she's terminal, and it's just a matter of finding something that might kill enough of the cancer cells to keep her alive longer, but that she'd still be terminal. The point is that it's entirely possible that nothing would have prolonged her life, that you'd have had the same outcome even if the doctor hadn't been a jerk, and even if they had put in the right catheter (I'm assuming that after they put in the wrong catheter, they then put in the right one? Is that the case)?

But things could have gone much better. It's a secret that things do go better when you are treated at a large teaching hospital like Johns Hopkins, and cancer treatment is better if you have the surgery and chemo done by the right people--survival rates for gynecologic cancers are higher if treated by a gynecologic-oncologist rather than a general surgeon and/or gynecologist. But it's not negligence if nothing really wrong is done, and it's just due to a less good doctor. A bad outcome does not equal negligence. But I think you should see a grief counselor first of all, and then talk to a lawyer if you are still interested in doing that--you can get some answers, perhaps, and find out if everything was done properly or if there was any negligence, and then you won't have that question hanging over your head....Show more

I understand how you feel. I held my fathers hand while he died of stomach cancer and was at my brothers side when he died of lung cancer 2 years ago. Cancer is a terrible death. I really don't see negligence that would make anyone pay for anything on this. My father had stomach trouble for years and not a single doctor at the veterans hospital ever even suggested an endoscopy be done even though he had stomach ulcers almost all his adult life. If they would have, the stomach cancer would have been found in time and treated.

My brother started having back pain at work. Thought it was work related and found out he had lung cancer that had spread pretty much everywhere and was terminal. He lived for 6 weeks after being diagnosed. The strange thing is that he had lung xrays done 6 months earlier and was given a clean bill of health.

The doctors will most likely say nothing would have really saved your mom and you would have the burden of proof because cancer is a horrible disease that is very deceptive and sneaky. It may go away in one place with treatment and sneak up in another place. Once it spreads anywhere, it would be very difficult to prove anything other than the cancer caused the death no matter what kind of treatment was or wasn't given. The things you mentioned could be easily explained away by any doctor. Example: The wrong size catheter. Explanation: "Different patients can take different sizes. Sometimes one size will not work well in one patient while another patient will do fine with that size. If it doesn't work or falls out, then we have to start and try again if that is possible."
Believe me, they will have an answer for anything you bring up and it will be quite convincing.

I know you are angry, but in reality, when cancer spreads, it's a real battle to stay alive most of the time. They can't be doing constant testing in every part of your body for cancer cells. It's just not medically possible to do biopsies and tests everywhere. By the time my brother and father was in their last weeks, I was praying for God to take them out of their misery. Prolonging their life would not have been good for them or us. Just like the millions of other cancer victims, I think you just need to accept it that your mother died of terminal cancer and not doctor negligence. I'm so sorry for your loss. I lived through it with my family and know how hard it is to accept it. My heart goes out to you....Show more

You can't punch God....and "someone should answer for this"? You really think that will help? I'm sorry you have gone through so much, but I think you would benefit more from some grief therapy.

But to answer the question...You can, but there is a legal definition of "negligence", which probably does not match your opinion of what entails negligence, especially when it comes to the treatment of your mother while emotionally frail. A lawyer would be the one to make the determination if he would take the case.

I hope you are able to find some peace for yourself.
Take care of yourself, alright?...Show more

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