Standard of Care for Ovarian Cancer

For many women, ovarian cancer is diagnosed in later stages than other cancers. Its symptoms can be subtle, persistent, and easily mistaken for common or less serious conditions. By the time the disease is identified, treatment options may be more limited, and the physical and emotional toll can be far greater.

When ovarian cancer is detected and treated appropriately, patients often have more options and better outcomes. But when warning signs are overlooked, diagnostic testing is delayed, or treatment decisions fall short of accepted medical standards, the consequences can be devastating. Some women face more aggressive treatment than should have been necessary. Others lose critical time. In the most tragic cases, families are left grieving a loss that may have been preventable.

Understanding the standard of care for ovarian cancer helps patients and their loved ones recognize what proper medical treatment should look like, and when the care provided may have fallen below accepted professional standards.

What “Standard of Care” Means in Ovarian Cancer Treatment

The standard of care is the legal floor below which medical care must not fall. Under New York law, it is defined as the degree of skill, knowledge, and care that a reasonably prudent healthcare professional would exercise under the same or similar circumstances. (See Toth v. Community Hospital at Glen Cove, 22 N.Y.2d 255 (1968).) Proving that a provider deviated from this standard is the foundation of a medical malpractice claim in New York.

In ovarian cancer cases, the standard applies at every stage of evaluation and treatment:

The Duty to Investigate: Physicians must take persistent symptoms seriously and pursue them with appropriate workup, rather than dismissing them as benign without evaluation.

The Duty to Rule Out: A reasonable practitioner constructs a differential diagnosis, systematically considering and excluding the most dangerous possible causes of a symptom—not only the most common.

The Duty to Follow Up: Abnormal laboratory results, imaging findings, and pathology reports must be communicated to the patient and acted upon in a timely manner. A failure to “close the loop” on abnormal findings is a recognized basis for liability.

Physicians are not required to guarantee a cure or a particular outcome. They are required to act reasonably and in accordance with accepted medical practice. When they fail to do so and a patient is harmed as a result, the conduct may constitute medical negligence.

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What Proper Ovarian Cancer Care Should Include

To recognize whether care fell below professional standards, it helps to see what a proper diagnostic path looks like.

Taking Symptoms Seriously

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) recognize a defined set of symptoms—abdominal bloating, increased abdominal size, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary urgency or frequency—as warranting further evaluation when they are new, persistent (occurring on more than 12 days per month), and present for less than one year. This framework, often called the Ovarian Cancer Symptom Index (Goff et al., 2007), places a clear duty on clinicians to move beyond a routine pelvic examination when a patient presents with these complaints. The duty is heightened for patients with known risk factors, including a personal or family history of breast, ovarian, or BRCA-related cancers.

Appropriate Diagnostic Testing

A manual pelvic exam is rarely sufficient to detect early-stage ovarian cancer. When symptoms or risk factors warrant further investigation, the professional standard typically requires:

Transvaginal Ultrasound (TVUS) to visualize the ovaries for masses or other abnormalities that cannot be detected by physical examination.

CA-125 Blood Test to measure a protein that may be elevated in the presence of ovarian cancer. CA-125 has known limitations—it can be elevated in benign conditions such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and pelvic inflammatory disease, and it may be normal in early-stage disease—but used alongside imaging, it remains a key component of the evaluation.

CT or MRI Imaging when a suspicious mass is identified, to assess its size, characteristics, and possible spread.

Timely Specialist Referral

One of the most consequential steps in the standard of care is referral to a gynecologic oncologist. ACOG and SGO have published referral criteria identifying findings that should prompt referral before surgery, including elevated CA-125, ascites, a nodular or fixed pelvic mass, evidence of metastasis, and a family history of breast or ovarian cancer. Multiple peer-reviewed studies have established that patients treated by gynecologic oncologists have significantly better survival outcomes than those treated by general surgeons or general gynecologists. A failure to refer when referral criteria are met may itself form the basis of a malpractice claim.

How Medical Negligence Impacts Your Life

When the standard of care is ignored, a delay in diagnosis can move a patient from early-stage disease—where the five-year relative survival rate exceeds 90% for localized ovarian cancer—to advanced-stage disease (Stage III or IV), where survival rates drop sharply. (Source: National Cancer Institute, SEER Program.) The delay does not just change a prognosis. It changes the intensity of the treatment required.

Advanced-stage ovarian cancer treatment can include:

Aggressive Surgery: Cytoreductive (“debulking”) surgery and total hysterectomy with removal of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and often portions of the omentum, peritoneum, or bowel.

Systemic Chemotherapy: Multiple cycles of platinum-based chemotherapy, sometimes combined with intraperitoneal administration, with significant physical side effects.

Targeted and Maintenance Therapies: PARP inhibitors and other long-term treatments that may continue for years.

Emotional and Financial Strain: Extended care, lost wages, family caregiving burdens, and, in the most tragic cases, the loss of life.

Your Legal Rights Under New York Law

If ovarian cancer was diagnosed late and you suspect substandard care, several New York-specific legal frameworks define your rights and the deadlines for asserting them.

The Four Elements of a New York Medical Malpractice Claim

To recover compensation in a New York medical malpractice action, a plaintiff must prove four elements:

Duty: A physician-patient relationship existed and gave rise to a duty of care.

Breach: The provider’s care fell below the accepted standard.

Causation: The breach was a substantial factor in causing the patient’s injury.

Damages: The patient suffered measurable physical, emotional, or financial harm.

Expert medical testimony is required to establish both the applicable standard of care and the causal connection between the provider’s breach and the patient’s injury.

Statute of Limitations and Lavern’s Law

New York’s medical malpractice statute of limitations is set by CPLR § 214-a. In most cases, an action must be commenced within two years and six months of the act or omission, or of the end of continuous treatment by the same provider or practice group for the same condition.

For cases involving the failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor, New York recognizes a critical extension known as Lavern’s Law, signed into law in 2018. Under CPLR § 214-a(b), the limitations period in cancer misdiagnosis cases begins on the date the patient knows, or reasonably should have known, of the alleged negligent act or omission—not the date the negligence actually occurred—provided that suit is filed within seven years of the original act or omission. The law was enacted specifically to protect patients whose cancer was missed for years before being discovered, who would otherwise have lost their right to sue before they ever knew they were harmed.

Different deadlines and procedural rules apply when the negligent provider is a public hospital or municipal employee. In those cases, a notice of claim must generally be filed within 90 days of the act or omission, and a lawsuit must be commenced within one year and 90 days. Because the calculation of these deadlines is highly fact-specific, prompt consultation with counsel is important.

Certificate of Merit Requirement

Under CPLR § 3012-a, every medical malpractice complaint filed in New York must be accompanied by a certificate of merit. The plaintiff’s attorney must certify that they have consulted with at least one qualified physician, reviewed the relevant facts, and concluded that there is a reasonable basis for the action. This rule reflects the seriousness with which New York courts treat malpractice claims and is one reason an experienced firm with established relationships with medical experts is essential.

Wrongful Death and Survival Claims

When delayed diagnosis results in death, two related claims may be available:

A wrongful death action, brought by the personal representative of the patient’s estate under EPTL § 5-4.1, must be commenced within two years of the date of death. Recoverable damages focus on the economic losses suffered by surviving family members, including loss of financial support, loss of services, and loss of parental guidance.

A survival action under EPTL § 11-3.2 allows recovery for the pain, suffering, and medical expenses the patient endured between the negligent act and death.

These claims are typically filed together but are governed by separate rules and deadlines.

Damages Available Under New York Law

Recoverable damages in an ovarian cancer malpractice case may include:

Past and future medical expenses, including chemotherapy, surgery, and long-term care

Lost earnings and loss of future earning capacity

Pain and suffering, including emotional distress

Loss of consortium for a spouse

In wrongful death cases, the pecuniary loss to surviving family members

New York does not impose a statutory cap on compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases, which distinguishes it from many other states.

How We Investigate Ovarian Cancer Malpractice Claims

At Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman LLP, we investigate thoroughly to determine whether medical care met accepted professional standards.

Our process includes:

Listening to your account of when symptoms began, what care was provided, and what felt wrong

Obtaining and reviewing the complete medical record, including primary care, gynecologic, radiologic, and pathology records

Consulting with board-certified gynecologic oncologists and other medical experts to determine whether the care provided fell below the standard

Reconstructing the timeline of care to identify delays, missed warning signs, and departures from accepted standards

Analyzing whether and how the breach changed the patient’s stage at diagnosis, treatment course, and prognosis

Pursuing accountability and full compensation, including in wrongful death cases under New York law

Our goal is to hold negligent providers responsible and to ensure that women and families receive the answers and compensation to which they are entitled.

Speak With a New York Ovarian Cancer Malpractice Attorney

If you or a loved one received an advanced-stage ovarian cancer diagnosis and you suspect that earlier warning signs were missed or dismissed, you are entitled to a clear answer about whether the standard of care was met.

Contact our delayed cancer diagnosis lawyers at Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman LLP today for a confidential, no-obligation evaluation. We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning we only recover a fee if we successfully obtain compensation for you. Because New York’s statute of limitations, including the seven-year outside limit under Lavern’s Law, can foreclose otherwise valid claims, we encourage you not to delay.