There are ways to avoid becoming a victim of medical malpractice.

Check your physician’s background, education, board certification and his/her history of malpractice claims. You can obtain a Florida Report on Physician Discipline and Malpractice from the Agency for Health Care Administration.

You also may verify if a physician or any healthcare professional is licensed in Florida, request a summary of public pending disciplinary cases against physicians or file a complaint against physicians or any other healthcare professional. To verify if a physician is self-insured or uninsured, you may call or write to: Agency for Health Care Administration, Consumer Services Unit, PO Box 14000, Tallahassee, Florida 32317-4000. The Agency’s telephone number is 904-414-7209.

Ask questions about the care provided and familiarize yourself with the medications you use and their side effects. Provide a complete and honest medical history to all care givers.

While your chances of becoming a victim of malpractice are relatively low and not entirely controllable, I would suggest there are opportunities to decrease risks of common health problems and personal injury.

A review of the medical literature for a potential failure to diagnose breast cancer claim that was reviewed by our firm revealed the following information from the National Cancer Institute and U.S. Food and Drug Administration which we would like to share with you.

Breast cancer is the leading type of non-skin cancer in U.S. women, with 176,300 new cases projected to occur in 1999. On average, a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is about 1 in 8.

A risk factor is anything increasing a person’s chance of developing a disease. The major risk factor for breast cancer is aging; it is more likely to develop as you grow older. Some additional risk factors are: a personal history of breast cancer or a family history of a mother or sister who developed breast cancer, particularly if they had it at an early age, and first full-term pregnancy after age 30 (or no pregnancies.)

In the United States, it is the second leading cause of death from cancer (the first being lung cancer) in women. It is estimated that approximately 43,300 women will die of breast cancer in 1999.

Screening for breast cancer includes breast self-examination, clinical (by your healthcare provider) breast examination, and mammography. A mammogram is an x-ray of the breast which can often find tumors too small for you or your doctor to feel.

The National Cancer Institute recommends that women in their 40s or older get screening mammograms on a regular basis, every one to two years. Talk to your doctor about mammography as a regular part of your healthcare plan.

As important as mammograms are, they are only worthwhile if the equipment is properly maintained and the personnel properly trained. The objective of the Mammography Quality Standards Act (MQSA) of 1992 is to ensure that mammography is safe and reliable and that breast cancer is detected in its most treatable stages.

The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for implementing and enforcing MQSA, which requires that all mammography facilities in the U.S. meet quality standards, be accredited by an FDA-approved accreditation body, and be inspected annually. A certificate is required to be displayed at the facility and the FDA encourages women getting mammograms to look for this certificate. The MQSA requires mammography facilities to give patients an easy-to-read report on the results of their test.

"Regularly scheduled mammograms can decrease a woman’s chance of dying from breast cancer. For some women, early detection may prevent the need to remove the entire breast or receive chemotherapy. We need to get the message out that more than 90 percent of breast cancer cases are successfully treated when detected early. Early detection is what makes the difference between a breast cancer survivor and a statistic."

To learn more about breast cancer and mammography check the National Cancer Institute Web site at <www.nci.nih.gov> or get a list of certified mammography facilities at <www.fda.gov/cdrh/faclist.html>. Also you can call the National Cancer Institute at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) or the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345.