We represent patients whose oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers were not caught when they should have been. These cases typically involve doctors or dentists who failed to recognize early warning signs, delayed necessary referrals to specialists, or did not order timely biopsies or imaging, allowing a curable lesion to progress to an advanced stage.
This applies to patients who experienced persistent mouth sores, red or white patches, lumps in the mouth or neck, difficulty swallowing, voice changes, or other concerning symptoms that lasted more than two weeks, but whose healthcare providers repeatedly reassured them, treated them only for infection, or failed to refer them for further evaluation until the cancer had advanced.
Next step: If this describes your situation, call us at 833-PORTER9 to have your records reviewed. We can obtain your dental and medical charts, imaging, and pathology reports to determine whether your mouth or throat cancer should have been diagnosed sooner under accepted standards of care.
Mouth and throat cancer, also known as oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer, begins when cells in the mouth or throat grow out of control, forming tumors that can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). These cancers typically start in the squamous cells that line the mouth and throat.
Symptoms may include:
Treatment options for mouth and throat cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted drug therapy, and immunotherapy.
Primary-care clinicians and dentists are expected to recognize persistent or unexplained changes in the mouth or throat as potential cancer warning signs, especially in patients with risk factors such as tobacco use, heavy alcohol consumption, or high-risk HPV infection.
Key early signs that should prompt careful examination and, if not resolving within about two weeks, further evaluation include:
When these signs persist, guidelines and public-health materials stress the need for prompt evaluation by a dentist, oral and maxillofacial specialist, or ear-nose-throat (ENT) physician, often including biopsy of suspicious lesions.
Mouth and throat cancers are often detectable at an earlier stage if appropriate examinations and referrals occur. Missed or delayed diagnosis usually reflects breakdowns at several points:
Commonly missed signs in practice: Providers may attribute persistent sores, white or red patches, throat discomfort, or hoarseness to trauma, infection, or reflux without considering malignancy, and symptoms that last more than two weeks are not re-evaluated or escalated.
Referral delays: Patients with concerning findings (non-healing ulcers, neck masses, unexplained dysphagia, or voice changes) are not promptly referred to an ENT specialist, oral surgeon, or head-and-neck oncologist for comprehensive evaluation.
Biopsy delays: Suspicious lesions are monitored for long periods without biopsy, or biopsies are deferred despite persistence or progression of abnormal areas, contrary to guidance that non-healing or unexplained lesions should be biopsied.
Imaging delays: When a mass, neck lump, or suspected spread is present, appropriate imaging (such as CT or MRI of the head and neck) is delayed, not ordered, or results are not acted on promptly, allowing tumors to grow and metastasize.
Communication and follow-up breakdowns: Abnormal findings from exams, biopsies, or imaging are not clearly communicated to patients, or systems do not ensure that patients return for recommended follow-up, contributing to cancers being diagnosed only when symptoms become severe.
Early detection is crucial for mouth and throat cancer survival. The 5-year relative survival rate varies depending on where the cancer started. If it starts at the lip, one can expect an average survival rate of 94% at the localized stage, and 38% when it has metastasized to distant parts of the body. But if it starts at the oropharynx, there is only a 59% survival rate even at the localized stage, and 29% at the distant stage.
Delayed cancer diagnosis can lead to more advanced stages, requiring more aggressive treatments with potentially life-altering side effects such as permanent loss of voice, difficulty eating and speaking, and disfigurement.
If you or a loved one have suffered from a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of mouth and throat cancer in New York, the experienced attorneys at the Porter Law Group can help. Our team, along with board-certified medical experts, can review your case to determine if you may be entitled to compensation for your pain, suffering, and increased medical expenses resulting from a doctor's failure to diagnose your cancer in a timely manner.
Yes, you can sue for medical malpractice if a delayed mouth and throat cancer diagnosis has caused you harm. However, proving medical negligence requires demonstrating that your doctor deviated from the accepted standard of care for patients with similar symptoms and that this deviation directly led to your injuries.
1. Duty (was there a provider-patient relationship?)
Doctors, dentists, and other clinicians who evaluated your mouth, throat, or related symptoms owed you a professional duty to meet accepted standards of care in examining you, recognizing warning signs, ordering tests, and making referrals.
Evidence: appointment records, dental and medical charts, consent forms, and documentation that these providers were involved in your care during the period before diagnosis.
2. Breach (did they depart from accepted standards?)
A breach may occur if a provider fails to perform or document an adequate oral and neck exam, does not investigate persistent symptoms lasting more than two weeks, does not refer you for specialist evaluation, or delays necessary biopsy or imaging despite clear red-flag signs.
Evidence: progress notes, dental charts, exam findings, records showing repeated visits with the same unresolved symptoms, absence or delay of referrals, and timelines showing when biopsies or imaging were finally ordered.
3. Causation (did the delay cause additional harm?)
The legal question is whether earlier diagnosis, consistent with accepted practice, would more likely than not have led to detection at an earlier stage, less extensive treatment, better functional outcomes, or improved survival.
Evidence: oncology and pathology reports showing stage at diagnosis, comparison with typical stage-specific survival data, and expert opinions on how the stage and treatment would likely have differed with timely diagnosis.
4. Damages (what losses resulted?)
Compensable harms can include more extensive surgery (for example, larger resections, neck dissections), chemoradiation, permanent speech or swallowing problems, disfigurement, loss of income, and pain and suffering associated with advanced disease.
Evidence: treatment records, rehabilitation records, work and income documentation, and assessments of long-term disability and quality-of-life impact.
In a New York mouth or throat cancer misdiagnosis case, plaintiffs generally must prove:
A clear records timeline: when symptoms began, when you first sought care, what each provider did, and when the cancer was finally diagnosed, typically reconstructed from dental and medical records, imaging, pathology, and correspondence.
Expert review: qualified medical experts (often in primary care, dentistry, otolaryngology, or oncology) review the records to determine what a reasonably prudent provider in New York would have done under similar circumstances.
Standard-of-care comparison: experts explain how the provider's actions compared to accepted standards (such as recommended evaluation of persistent oral lesions or neck masses) and whether departures more likely than not allowed the cancer to progress.
A bad outcome means that, despite appropriate care, a patient experiences advanced cancer, complications, or death. Some mouth and throat cancers are aggressive and can progress even when guidelines are followed.
Malpractice involves a preventable injury that occurs because a provider failed to meet accepted standards (for example, not examining a persistent ulcer, ignoring a neck mass, or delaying biopsy well beyond what reasonable clinicians would accept) and that failure is a substantial factor in causing a worse stage, more invasive treatment, or reduced survival.
Delayed diagnosis: the correct diagnosis is eventually made, but only after an avoidable lag (for example, months of symptomatic visits before any biopsy or imaging), during which the tumor progresses.
Misdiagnosis: the provider identifies the problem as something else (such as infection, trauma, or reflux) and treats it as that condition, failing to recognize or test for cancer.
Missed diagnosis: no cancer diagnosis is made at all at a given visit despite signs that should have prompted further evaluation. The opportunity to diagnose is effectively overlooked.
| Concept | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Bad outcome | Advanced cancer or complications despite care that met accepted standards. | Rapidly progressing oropharyngeal cancer diagnosed even after prompt referral and biopsy. |
| Malpractice | Preventable harm caused by care falling below accepted standards, leading to worse stage, treatment, or prognosis. | Non-healing ulcer seen at multiple visits with no biopsy or referral until tumor is advanced. |
| Term | Core idea | Typical pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Delayed diagnosis | Correct diagnosis made later than reasonable. | Suspicious lesion watched for months before biopsy, cancer found at higher stage. |
| Misdiagnosis | Condition labeled as wrong disease. | Persistent sore treated repeatedly as infection or trauma without considering cancer. |
| Missed diagnosis | Opportunity to diagnose overlooked. | Abnormal finding not investigated or documented; no diagnosis or follow-up arranged. |
New York's general medical malpractice limitations period requires most actions to be filed within two years and six months of the alleged negligent act or the end of continuous treatment for the same condition.
For negligent failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor, New York's amendment commonly known as Lavern's Law adds a discovery-based component: in such cases, an action must generally be commenced within two and a half years from the later of when the patient knew or reasonably should have known that the negligent act or omission caused injury, subject to an outside limit measured from the date of the malpractice.
Additional notice-of-claim and shorter timeframes may apply when the defendant is a public hospital or other governmental entity, so patients with potential mouth or throat cancer misdiagnosis claims in New York are typically advised to seek legal review as soon as they suspect a problem.
There is no authoritative government database that provides a single "average" settlement for cancer misdiagnosis, and outcomes vary widely based on age, income loss, severity of disability, prognosis, and jurisdiction.
In New York, some cancer misdiagnosis cases have resulted in substantial settlements or verdicts when delayed diagnosis led to advanced disease, but each case is fact-specific and settlements are typically driven by documented economic and non-economic damages rather than a fixed average number.
Publicly available data on New York medical malpractice outcomes show that the state has relatively high total payouts compared with many other states, but reported figures aggregate all claim types and do not yield a reliable per-case "average" for counseling individual clients.
Settlements in New York depend on liability strength, injury severity, future care needs, and insurance coverage, so attorneys usually avoid quoting an "average" and instead analyze the specific medical evidence and damages in each case.
National analyses of medical malpractice claims indicate that many filed cases are resolved before trial and that defendants win a substantial share of cases that do reach verdict, reflecting the high burden of proving both a standard-of-care departure and causation.
Because outcomes depend heavily on the strength of the medical evidence, expert opinions, and procedural issues like timeliness, the "odds" for an individual New York mouth or throat cancer case can only be assessed after detailed record review and expert evaluation.
Yes. In New York, a patient can bring a malpractice claim for misdiagnosed or late-diagnosed oral or throat cancer if they can demonstrate that a provider failed to meet accepted standards (such as by not evaluating persistent symptoms, not referring to specialists, or delaying biopsy or imaging) and that this departure was a substantial factor in allowing the cancer to progress and cause greater harm.
These cases are subject to New York's statute of limitations and discovery-based rules for cancer misdiagnosis, so early legal review is important to preserve potential rights.
Early signs that clinicians are expected to take seriously include: non-healing mouth sores or ulcers; white or red patches in the mouth or throat; persistent sore throat or feeling of something stuck; hoarseness or voice change; difficulty chewing or swallowing; a lump or thickening in the mouth or neck; loose teeth or poor-fitting dentures without clear cause; and unexplained mouth or ear pain.
Public-health resources emphasize that symptoms lasting more than two weeks warrant evaluation, and suspicious lesions should be biopsied or referred to appropriate specialists rather than simply observed indefinitely.
For most medical malpractice claims in New York, including many cancer misdiagnosis cases, an action must be commenced within two years and six months of the alleged negligent act or completion of continuous treatment.
For negligent failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor, the CPLR 214-a amendment known as Lavern's Law allows patients to file within two and a half years of when they knew or reasonably should have known that the malpractice caused injury, subject to an outer limit from the time of the negligence, with different rules for certain public entities. This means timeliness analysis can be complex and case-specific.
Lawyers typically prove cancer misdiagnosis by assembling a detailed medical timeline, obtaining expert testimony on what the standard of care required at each point, showing how providers departed from those standards, and demonstrating that these departures led to a later stage at diagnosis and greater harm.
This process relies on dental and medical records, imaging and pathology reports, provider and expert witnesses, and documentation of the patient's losses, and it must also account for New York's procedural rules on filing deadlines and evidence.
The Porter Law Group has a proven track record of securing millions of dollars* for victims of medical malpractice in New York State. And we work on a contingency fee basis, so you pay no fees unless we win your case.
Contact us at 833-PORTER9 or email info@porterlawteam.com for a free, no-obligation case evaluation. Our dedicated team is prepared to stand by you and your family during this challenging time and fight for the compensation you deserve.
*previous results do not guarantee a similar outcome
Settlement – Prostate Cancer
Stage IV Cancer Delayed diagnosis leading to incurable Stage IV disease.
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Confidential Settlement Reached Prior to Trial
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