My Brother is Delaying Seeing His GP and I'm Worried About a Possible Cancer Risk

"My older brother worked with chemicals in manufacturing for years. He now has a persistent cough but he won’t see a doctor. Do you have any advice?"

It is very important that someone with a persistent cough sees their GP without delay. In fact, November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation is urging people to ‘Spot The Difference’ by taking note of any changes even subtle ones that can be a signal of lung cancer. This will hopefully help people spot lung cancer symptoms early and seek advice.

There are many different causes of lung cancer and anyone can develop it, but it has been linked to smoking, passive smoking, poor diet, and exposure to certain chemicals.

Without wanting to alarm you, a persistent cough can, in some cases, be an indicator of cancer, so seeing your GP, if only to rule this out, is important. If it does turn out to be lung cancer an early diagnosis is crucial.

Unfortunately, we deal with an increasing number of legal cases where a delay in diagnosis – or sometimes a misdiagnosis - has resulted in more serious injury to a patient than otherwise would have been the case. Clearly the Covid situation has led to routine or follow up appointments being cancelled or delayed, so this is a growing issue. Anyone who feels a delay or a misdiagnosis has caused them injury should seek tailored legal advice.

For more information, contact: nick.oneill@jcpsolicitors.co.uk or 01446 771742.  

This question is based upon a hypothetical situation. The content does not constitute legal advice and is provided for general information purposes only.