Montana residents may be interested to learn that cervical cancer is a bigger problem than had been previously thought. Researchers conducted a study on cervical cancer death rates that they say has more accurate figures than prior studies. The difference is that this study did not include data for women who had undergone hysterectomies.
A woman has no chance of developing cervical cancer after she has undergone a hysterectomy because her cervix has been removed in the operation. However, previous cervical cancer statistics had only accounted for gender, not factors such as a prior hysterectomy. Before the adjustment was made to the data, researchers believed that the cervical cancer death rate was 3.2 per 100,000 white women and 5.7 per 100,000 black women. Now, those numbers are 4.7 per 100,000 white women and 10.1 per 100,000 black women.
The new statistics on cervical cancer death show that the racial disparity is even greater than researchers previously believed. The data shows that old figures underestimated the difference between cervical cancer death rates in white women and black women by 44 percent. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cervical cancer deaths can be easily prevented with screening tests.
A woman who has been told that she has late-stage cervical cancer may have been misdiagnosed at prior doctor’s visits. It is also possible that a misread test result led to a delayed diagnosis. An attorney may be able to help a woman to investigate her medical records and determine whether she has a case for filing a medical malpractice claim.
