Are mistakes common when dealing with cancer?

Mistakes in the diagnosis or in treatment of patients result in an enormous loss of life and health throughout the world. In the USA alone, medical errors cause more deaths annually than breast cancer, road accidents or AIDS, according to research carried out in 1999 by the American Institute of Medicine. If we look at the data published about mistakes related to the diagnosis of cancer, the percentage could go up to 9.5%, which means over 30,000 diagnostic mistakes a year in the USA alone.

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