Brain and Spinal Cord Tumor Lawyers in New York

Do I Have a Case?

You may have a case if:

• What went wrong: A doctor or hospital failed to order appropriate brain or spinal imaging, misread a CT or MRI, did not refer you to a neurologist or neurosurgeon, or did not act on abnormal test results that suggested a tumor.
• What harm occurred: The tumor grew or spread before it was diagnosed, making surgery or radiation more invasive, limiting treatment options, causing permanent neurologic deficits, or reducing your chances of survival.
• What documentation helps: Brain or spine CT or MRI reports, office visit notes showing your reported symptoms and referrals, hospital records, neurology or oncology consult notes, pathology reports, and any letters or portal messages about test results or follow-up.

New York Timing: How Long You Have to Sue

In New York, most medical malpractice claims must be filed within two years and six months of the negligent act or the end of a continuous course of treatment for the same condition.

For missed or delayed diagnosis of cancer or a malignant tumor, New York's Lavern's Law modifies this rule: you generally have two and a half years from the date you knew or reasonably should have known that a negligent failure to diagnose caused your injury, but in no event more than seven years from the misdiagnosis or omission.

If the negligent provider is a municipal hospital or public institution, additional notice-of-claim deadlines as short as 90 days may apply, so patients should seek legal advice quickly.

What are Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors?

Brain and spinal cord tumors are dangerous growths in the central nervous system. Even if they are benign, they usually need to be removed because they might pinch nerves or block essential pathways. They can cause several problems, including:

• Numbness
• Speech problems
• Vision problems
• Hearing loss
• Seizures

The American Cancer Society estimates that around 25,000 malignant brain and spinal cord tumors are found every year, and about 18,000 people die from them annually. There is a less than 1% lifetime risk of developing brain and spinal cord tumors for adults. But these tumors are more common in children and make up about 1 in 4 childhood cancers.

Early detection is crucial and should be done with imaging tests like MRIs, MRAs, MRVs, CT scans, and biopsies. These tumors can be treated with a variety of surgeries, radiation therapies, targeted drugs, and chemo drugs. Survival rates for brain and spinal cord tumors vary with location, age range, and overall health, but treatment and detection technology has vastly improved the outlook for recovery.

Warning Signs and Missed Follow-Ups That Can Lead to Delayed Diagnosis

A delayed brain or spinal tumor diagnosis often reflects both missed warning signs and system breakdowns in follow-up:

• Early warnings such as persistent or unusual headaches, seizures, new visual problems, focal weakness or numbness, imbalance, or personality and cognitive changes may be dismissed without appropriate neurologic workup.
• "Soft" abnormal findings on imaging (for example, a small mass or lesion with a recommendation for follow-up) may not be highlighted as urgent, and no one is assigned to ensure that the follow-up MRI, CT, or specialist visit occurs.
• Patients may receive results only through an online portal without clear instructions, making it easy for concerning language like "lesion," "mass," or "needs follow-up imaging" to be overlooked.
• In busy primary care and emergency settings, lack of robust tracking systems for abnormal test results and missed appointments can mean that worrisome findings are never revisited until the patient deteriorates clinically.
• For children and adolescents, vague symptoms such as nausea, behavioral changes, or decline in school performance can be misattributed for months, allowing the tumor to progress before definitive imaging is obtained.

Common Reasons Brain and Spinal Tumors Are Diagnosed Late

Delayed diagnosis of brain and spinal tumors is often multifactorial:

• Symptoms such as headaches, visual changes, seizures, or subtle cognitive changes are attributed to benign conditions (migraine, stress, anxiety) without considering a tumor in the differential.
• CT or MRI scans are not ordered when "red-flag" symptoms are present, or there is an unreasonable delay in scheduling or obtaining imaging.
• Radiology errors occur when the lesion is overlooked (perceptual error) or described as a possible mass, but urgency and the need for follow-up are not clearly communicated to the treating clinician.
• Abnormal imaging or lab results are posted in the chart or patient portal, but no system ensures the patient is informed, the findings are tracked, and follow-up imaging or referrals actually happen.
• Referrals to neurology, neurosurgery, or oncology are not made, are significantly delayed, or are not expedited even when significant neurologic deficits are present.
• In pediatric and young adult patients, non-specific or slowly progressive symptoms may lead to months of delay before a tumor is considered, which can worsen neurologic and developmental outcomes.

Red-Flag Symptoms and When Doctors Should Act

Clinical guidance emphasizes that certain "red-flag" neurologic symptoms should trigger urgent evaluation and often brain imaging:

• New-onset seizure in an adult with no prior history.
• Persistent or progressively worsening headache, especially if it is different from prior headaches, associated with vomiting, wakes the patient from sleep, or occurs in patients over 50.
• Headache or neurologic symptoms in a patient with a known history of cancer elsewhere (for example, lung or breast), due to risk of metastasis to the brain.
• Focal neurologic deficits such as weakness or numbness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking, visual field loss, double or blurred vision, balance or coordination problems, or personality or cognitive changes.
• Signs of increased intracranial pressure such as papilledema or progressive confusion or altered consciousness.

When these red flags are present, primary care physicians and emergency clinicians are expected to perform a focused neurologic exam, urgently order appropriate brain imaging (often MRI, or CT if MRI is not immediately available), and arrange timely specialty referral rather than sending the patient home with only symptomatic treatment.

Tests and Imaging Used to Diagnose Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors

Modern diagnosis relies on targeted imaging and, when needed, tissue sampling:

• MRI of the brain or spine is typically the preferred test for suspected intracranial or spinal tumors because it provides superior soft-tissue contrast and can detect small lesions and their relationship to critical structures.
• CT scans of the head or spine are often used in the emergency setting or when MRI is contraindicated; CT can quickly detect many intracranial masses, edema, and hemorrhage and may serve as an initial screen for tumors.
• Advanced imaging (contrast-enhanced MRI, MR spectroscopy, perfusion imaging, PET, or SPECT) may help characterize tumor type, grade, or treatment response, but pathologic confirmation with biopsy or surgical resection is commonly required for a definitive diagnosis.
• What delays look like: Failure to order imaging when red-flag symptoms are present, ordering the wrong study or a non-contrast test when contrast is indicated, misinterpretation of images, and failure to promptly communicate and act on abnormal imaging results can all contribute to delayed diagnosis and worse outcomes.

How Delayed Diagnosis Cases Happen and How We Investigate Them

Medical and legal analysis of delayed tumor diagnosis cases typically focuses on:

• What the standard of care required: whether a reasonably prudent New York physician in the same specialty would have ordered imaging, made a referral, or acted on abnormal results given the patient's symptoms and risk factors.
• What actually happened in the record: office notes, emergency records, imaging reports, and communications often reveal missed red flags, lack of follow-up on abnormal findings, or gaps in referral and scheduling.
• Causation analysis: experts evaluate whether earlier diagnosis would more likely than not have led to less advanced disease, less aggressive treatment, improved neurologic outcome, or a better survival probability, using current epidemiologic data and staging-survival statistics for brain and CNS tumors.
• Damages documentation: long-term neurologic impairment, loss of independence, reduced earning capacity, need for home or institutional care, and pain and suffering are assessed using medical records, vocational evaluations, and life-care planning.

If you or a loved one have been misdiagnosed, or diagnosed late with brain and spinal cord tumors, and have suffered injury because of your doctor's negligence, call the Porter Law Group for a free case evaluation.

Can You Sue for Medical Malpractice due to Late Diagnosis of Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors?

You can, but it isn't a straightforward process. Doctors have state-of-the-art tools at their disposal to diagnose and effectively treat brain and spinal cord tumors early. However, there are still cases where they either fail to order the appropriate tests, order tests but don't read the results, or fail to interpret results correctly.

This sort of medical malpractice can have devastating effects. Instead of being diagnosed early, when treatment can work, cancerous tumors are allowed to grow and spread for months or even years.

However, not all cases of misdiagnosis are medical malpractice. It is not enough that your condition has worsened, or that you are suffering from increased pain to recover financial compensation.

What You Need to Prove in a Delayed Diagnosis Claim

In a New York delayed diagnosis of brain or spinal tumor case, a plaintiff generally must prove:

• Duty and breach: that the health-care provider owed a duty of care and departed from accepted medical practice (for example, by ignoring red-flag symptoms, failing to timely order imaging, misreading a scan, or not following up an abnormal result).
• Causation: that this departure was a substantial factor in causing harm, such as allowing the tumor to progress to a higher stage, necessitating more aggressive treatment, causing permanent neurologic injury, or reducing chances of survival.
• Damages: that the patient suffered legally compensable losses, including medical costs, lost income, disability, loss of independence, and pain and suffering, which would have been less severe with a timely diagnosis.
• Timeliness: that the lawsuit was filed within New York's applicable statute of limitations, including the discovery-based timing rules for cancer and malignant tumor misdiagnosis under CPLR 214-a (Lavern's Law).

You need to establish that there was a doctor-patient relationship, that there was a deviation from the expected standard of care for patients with similar conditions, and that the deviation caused the damage. This can be tough to navigate, especially in the State of New York, where you have to be aware of the complex requirements for documentation, filing, and the statute of limitations to bring your case forward.

The lawyers and board-certified medical experts at the Porter Law Group can help you examine your case, and bring forward your medical malpractice claim. We work with experts in the medical field that can review your results, and testify on your behalf that the injury was caused by medical negligence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Sue for Failure to Diagnose a Brain Tumor?

In New York, you may bring a medical malpractice claim for failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis of a brain tumor if you can show that a provider did not act as a reasonably prudent physician would have under the circumstances and that this failure caused you additional harm.

Examples include not ordering imaging when you presented with seizure, focal neurologic deficits, or other red-flag symptoms, misinterpreting a CT or MRI that showed a mass, or not communicating and following up on abnormal test results.

These claims must meet New York's timing rules, including the two-and-a-half-year statute of limitations and the discovery-based period for cancer and malignant tumor misdiagnosis, so prompt legal evaluation is important.

What Compensation Can You Get for Cancer Misdiagnosis?

Available compensation in a New York cancer misdiagnosis case can include:

• Past and future medical expenses for surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, rehabilitation, and long-term supportive care.
• Lost wages and loss of future earning capacity when neurologic deficits or treatment side effects limit work.
• Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium, which can be substantial when delayed diagnosis leads to permanent disability or reduced life expectancy.

Where a delayed diagnosis results in death, the patient's family may also bring a wrongful death claim seeking funeral expenses, pecuniary losses, and certain other damages permitted under New York law.

Our Past Results Speak for Themselves

Our experienced trial lawyers have secured millions of dollars for patients whose cancer was misdiagnosed in the State of New York. Get in touch with us for a free consultation. We can get you and your family the answers you deserve.

Contact us at 833-PORTER9, or e-mail us at info@porterlawteam.com to discuss the details of our experience representing other clients and the results we were able to obtain in the past for clients who also suffered from cancer. In many ways, our results speak for themselves, and we will stand ready to help you and your family in your time of greatest need.