What Happens When You Find Out You Have Colon Cancer Metastasis After A Doctor Assuring You That You Do Not Have Cancer
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-06-21 23:48:40 | Word Count: 968
Being told one has colon cancer tends to raise worry in most of us. It can therefore feel very reassuring to hear your doctor say that you just have hemorrhoids and there is no need to be anxious about the blood in your stool. Yet this reassurance ought to only come after the doctor has ruled out the likelihood of colon cancer (and other possibly serious gastrointestinal problems). Otherwise, you may not learn that you have colon cancer until it is too late. If a doctor who automatically assumes that claims of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding by a patient are from hemorrhoids and it eventually turns out to be colon cancer, that physician may not have met the standard of care. Under those circimstances, the patient may be able to pursue a lawsuit against that doctor.
It is generally thought that there are presently over 10 million people with hemorrhoids and another million new instances of hemorrhoids will probably arise this year. In comparison, a little more than the 100 thousand new incidents of colon cancer that will be diagnosed this year. In addition, not all colon cancers bleed. In the event that they do, the bleeding may be non-consistent. And depending on the location of the cancer in the colon, the blood may not even be visible in the stool. Perhaps it is in part as a result of the difference in the volume of instances being identified that some doctors just think that the presence of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is from hemorrhoids. This amounts to playing the odds. A physician who reaches this conclusion will be correct more than 90% of the time. It sounds realistic, doesn't it? The problem, however, is that if the physician is inaccurate in this diagnosis, the patient may not find out he or she has colon cancer before it has reached a late stage, maybe even to the point where it is no longer treatable.
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When colon cancer is detected before it metastasizes outside the colon, the individual's 5 year survival rate will usually be over eighty percent. The 5 year survival rate is a statistical guage of the percentage of patients who survive the disease for a minimum of five years following diagnosis. Treatment protocols for early stage colon cancer often calls for just surgery to remove the tumor and adjacent areas of the colon. Based on variables like how advanced the cancer is and the patient's medical history (including family medical history), age, and the individual's physical condition, chemotherapy may or may not be recommended.
For this reason physicians typically recommend that a colonoscopy should be completed right away if a patient complains of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding. A colonoscopy is a method whereby a flexible tube with a camera on the end is employed to examine the interior of the colon. If growths (polyps or tumors) are discovered, they can be removed (if sufficiently small) or sampled and tested for the presence of cancer (by biopsy). Colon cancer may effectively be eliminated as the cause of the blood providing that a colonoscopy locates no cancer
But, if the cancer is not detected until it has spread outside of the colon and has reached the lymph nodes, the patient's 5 year survival rate will normally be roughly 53%. Aside from surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding areas of the colon treatment for this stage of colon cancer requires chemotherapy in an effort to eliminate any cancer that may be left in the body. If the cancer reaches distant organs for example the liver, lungs, or brain, the patient's five year survival rate is lowered to close to eight percent. Now treatment may entail surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications. Treatment might no longer be effective once the cancer is this advanced. If treatment stops being effective, colon cancer is fatal. This year, about 48,000 people will pass away in the U.S. from colon cancer metastasis.
As a result of diagnosing complaints of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding as caused by hemorrhoids while not performing the right tests to rule out colon cancer, a doctor places the patient at risk of not learning he or she has colon cancer before it progresses to an advanced, possibly no longer treatable, stage. This may constitute a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and might end in a medical malpractice claim.
In the event that you or a family member were assured by a doctor that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding were due to nothing more than hemorrhoids, and have since been diagnosed with advanced colon cancer, you need to consult a lawyer without delay. This article is for informational usage only and does not constitute legal (or medical) advice. For any medical concerns you should consult with a doctor. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information in this article but ought to rather consult with an attorney. A competent attorney with experience in medical malpractice may be able to help you determine should you have a claim for a delay in the diagnosis of the colon cancer. Do not wait to contact an attorney are there is a time limit in lawsuits such as these.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases and wrongful death cases. You can learn more about
advanced colon cancer and other cancer cases including
advanced breast cancer visit the website
