The short answer is most likely no.
Ok, thanks for reading. That's the end of the article.
Not really, but there may be an instance where the answer is yes.
Listen, you went to your doctor for medical help.
You trusted your doctor.
Your doctor always did the right thing by you in the past.
You expected your physician to treat you appropriately.
You made certain complaints.
You weren't getting better.
Weeks and months and years went by.
Your doctor reassured you everything was Ok.
Except it wasn't.
You're finally diagnosed with cancer.
Advanced cancer.
You don't understand how you had cancer that went undiagnosed for such a long time.
You'd been complaining for a long time. Many months.
Your doctor continued to reassure you that everything was fine.
He never sent you for an MRI.
He never sent you for a CAT scan.
He never did specific blood tests.
He never sent you to a specialist.
Now, your new doctors tell you that you have advanced Stage IV cancer.
They tell you your time left is very short.
They tell you to make your final arrangements.
You don't understand how this could happen.
How could your doctor not recognize your cancer?
Weren't there warning signs?
Didn't the symptoms you had suggest some sort of cancer?
Shouldn't your doctor have referred you to a specialist to investigate further?
Each family member asks the same questions.
They're angry.
They're upset.
They want answers and your doctor isn't giving you any.
At least none that make sense.
You confront your doctor during a recent office visit.
"How long was this cancer inside of me?" you ask.
He gives you some cockamamie answer.
He tells you there was no way to diagnose this condition.
Yet your cancer doctor, the oncologist, tells you that there are specific tests that help a doctor identify different cancers.
Your oncologist tells you that this cancer was likely growing inside of you for years.
It's a slow growing cancer and if recognized and treated early, is often curable with surgery and chemotherapy.
You don't have that option.
Your cancer is too far advanced for any surgery.
It's spread throughout your entire body.
Chemo won't help at this point either.
Now, any treatment is just to make you more comfortable.
This sucks.
Big time.
You're wondering "Why doesn't your doctor just admit he screwed up?"
The easy answer is 'PRIDE'.
He doesn't want to admit he made significant medical errors.
Nor does he want to publicly admit to you that he failed to timely diagnose your cancer.
The more complicated answer is that he's been told not to.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S BEEN TOLD NOT TO ADMIT HIS WRONGDOING?
The insurance companies that insure doctors for medical malpractice tell doctors NOT to admit they were careless.
Why not?
Simple.
If your doctor admits that he was careless and caused you harm, now THEY are on the hook.
Now, your doctors' insurance company will have no choice but to ultimately pay you money as a form of compensation for what the doctor has admitted he did.
You see, the goal of any insurance company is to make money.
To make profit.
That's the goal of any business.
If every doctor who screwed up actually admitted it, there's a good possibility that litigation could be avoided.
There's a good possibility that cases could be resolved without going to court.
But that would mean paying injured patients.
The more money they pay out the less money they earn as profit.
They make money by taking money in the form of insurance premiums.
They invest that money.
Sometimes they have to pay insurance claims.
If their payouts exceed what they take in from the doctors premiums and their investments, they will lose money.
That's not good for their bottom line.
That's why they tell their insured doctors "Don't admit you did something wrong."
There are some doctors who despite being told not to, will own up to their errors.
"Mrs. Jones, I'm sorry, but it looks like I missed this. I should have sent you out for testing earlier..."
"You know, in hindsight, I should have sent you to a specialist..."
Yeah, right. Like that's ever going to happen.
I will share with you that I've been in practice for 29 years now in New York and I have NEVER seen a case where a doctor has personally admitted he screwed up to his patient. NEVER.
I have seen cases where the doctor's attorney, after investingating the case and having medical experts review the case, admit that his client did something wrong. That's often a smart negotiating strategy to start discussing damages. Why?
Simple.
Once the doctor or his attorney have admitted that he was careless and caused harm, then the only other remaining issue in the case is to determine how much money your injuries are worth.
