Our Guide To Understanding Bowel And Colon Cancer Misdiagnosis

A bowel cancer misdiagnosis can be devastating for those impacted. Not only can such misdiagnoses take an emotional toll, but they can also lead to significant delays in treatment and have profound long-term health impacts. If you’ve had to face the reality of a misdiagnosis caused by substandard medical care, you may be considering making a clinical negligence claim.

Our guide will walk you through every step of the process and ensure you have all the information needed to get started with claiming. Our advisory team is also live right now to provide completely free information and guidance on cancer misdiagnosis claims:

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Frequently Asked Questions 

  1. Examples Of Bowel Cancer Medical Negligence
  2. What Impacts Can A Misdiagnosis of Bowel Cancer Have?
  3. What Conditions Could Bowel Cancer Be Misdiagnosed With?
  4. Is Bowel Cancer Often Misdiagnosed?
  5. What Are The Symptoms of Bowel Cancer?
  6. How Should Bowel Cancer Be Diagnosed?
  7. No Win No Fee Bowel Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims
  8. Learn More

Examples Of Medical Negligence That Could Lead To A Bowel Cancer Misdiagnosis

Some examples of medical negligence that could give rise to a bowel cancer misdiagnosis include:

How Might Bowel Cancer Be Misdiagnosed?

Bowel cancer can sometimes be misdiagnosed due to overlapping symptoms with other conditions. Some misdiagnosis examples include:

  • Your GP doesn’t recognise the obvious signs of early bowel cancer and instead concludes you have haemorrhoids, allowing the disease to spread.
  • Your doctor dismisses your concerns that you might have bowel cancer. They miss the telltale signs by not giving a physical check; instead, they send you home with advice about managing your diet.

What Could Lead To A Delayed Diagnosis of Bowel Cancer?

The following scenarios could lead to a delayed diagnosis of bowel cancer:

  • Hospital staff mix up your patient notes with those of someone else. As a result, you face a delayed diagnosis until the staff eventually identifies the error. The delay means you need more invasive treatment to manage your bowel cancer.
  • Test results are misinterpreted, resulting in you being incorrectly given an all-clear. The delay in treatment causes long-term organ damage.

Speak to our advisors for specific guidance on the circumstances of your bowel cancer misdiagnosis.

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What Impacts Can A Misdiagnosis of Bowel Cancer Have?

A bowel cancer misdiagnosis can have wide-ranging impacts, including:

  • Psychological anguish.
  • Reduced life expectancy.
  • The risk of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body.
  • The need for more aggressive and invasive treatment.

If you’ve faced the fallout of a negligent bowel cancer misdiagnosis, you already know about the far-reaching consequences. Please reach out today if you’d like to discuss what happened to you in confidence.

What Conditions Could Bowel Cancer Be Misdiagnosed With?

There may be other conditions that bowel cancer could be misdiagnosed as, such as:

You can share the specifics of your situation at any time by talking to our advisors.

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Is Bowel Cancer Often Misdiagnosed?

There are no definitive statistics about how often bowel cancer is misdiagnosed. However, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in March 2025, it was found that between 2021/22 and 2023/24, the NHS received 168 gastroenterology claims for advanced-stage cancer or diagnostic failures. Out of those, 100 (60%) resulted in compensation being awarded. 

A study in England found that around 30% of bowel cancer patients (approximately 454 people) experienced an avoidable treatment delay. Half waited about 2 months longer than those without delays. These issues arose from across the treatment spectrum, from pre-GP visits to backlogs for post-referral tests.

Please reach out today to discuss your experience of bowel cancer misdiagnosis.

What Are The Symptoms Of Bowel Cancer?

According to the NHS, the symptoms of bowel cancer include:

  • Changes in stools, diarrhoea or constipation.
  • The need to pass stools more frequently.
  • Blood in the faeces that may be black or red.
  • Stomach pain and bloating.
  • Weight loss without trying.
  • Fatigue and shortness of breath.

You can call our advisory team if you’d like to explore your options for making a bowel cancer misdiagnosis claim.

How Should Bowel Cancer Be Diagnosed?

Bowel cancer should be diagnosed using several methods, such as:

  • A colonoscopy explores the bowel with a camera to detect cancer.
  • A CT scan, MRI or PET scan is used to see how far cancer has spread.

If detected, suggested treatment to treat the cancer can involve surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy, depending on the stage of the disease. Please call if you’d like any guidance on bowel cancer claims or other topics raised.

Couple sitting with a No Win No Fee solicitor discussing a compensation claim for a bowel cancer misdiagnosis.

No Win No Fee Bowel Cancer Misdiagnosis Claims

Our panel of solicitors have taken on No Win No Fee bowel cancer misdiagnosis claims across the country. They offer a version of a No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which means no solicitor fees apply at the start of a claim, or as it progresses. If the claim loses, then these fees are not charged at all.

Claims that do win require the payment of a success fee to your solicitor. This percentage is deducted from the compensation for the solicitor’s services. Thanks to The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, this percentage is kept small by a legislative cap.

Working together this way means you can expect a range of services, all without spiralling solicitor fees. Those services include:

  • A detailed evaluation of your compensation claim.
  • Help to gather supporting evidence.
  • Advice on the best time to accept or refuse any settlement offers made.
  • All deadlines and court instructions promptly dealt with.

Contact Accident Claims

Working this way with our solicitors allows you to access excellent legal representation and retain almost all of the bowel cancer negligence claim compensation awarded to you. Interested in learning more?

Learn More

Alongside this guide on bowel cancer misdiagnosis, these other links offer help:

External resources:

To close, thank you for reading our guide on bowel cancer misdiagnosis, and if the advisory team can help in any other way, please connect today.