Medical malpractice cases in Arizona continue to rise and with the need for doctors to make more and more money, they are finding more and more ways to endanger their patients. Dermatologists are now using expensive treatment options for basal cell carcinoma that is not only dangerous to the patient, but also does not help to treat the condition!
Dermatologists in Arizona are buying expensive radiation machines and advising patients that radiation treatment is a scar-less way to get rid of their cancer. These machines not only cost the doctor a lot of money, the treatment costs the patient a lot of money, too. The problem, though, is that radiation therapy is no more effective than a simple excision, and radiation therapy comes with many irreversible complications. Whereas before a patient with basal cell carcinoma would undergo a simple 30 minute excision procedure, they are now being tricked into undergoing radiation therapy. When the radiation therapy fails (as it usually does), the patient ends up needing an excision anyway. As if that were not bad enough, the patient may now also have life-altering complications such as osteoradioncrosis, or bone death due to radiation.
So what drives dermatologists to persuade their patients into undergoing this dangerous and ineffective treatment for basal cell carcinoma? As is usually the case, money. Radiation treatment used in this manner is a new profit source for doctors. Even worse, when it fails and the patient requires an excision, the patient has now been billed for two treatments when he or she only required one.
As long as physicians and hospitals continue to put money over patient safety, medical malpractice rates in Phoenix will continue to rise. If you or a loved one has suffered serious, life-changing injuries due to radiation therapy for basal cell carcinoma, contact us today to see if you have a case. We have been fighting to protect our Arizona community from medical malpractice for over 37 years.