Patient Dies After Six Year Holdup In The Detection Of Her Colon Cancer Gives It Time To Metastasize
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-06-28 15:16:26 | Word Count: 712
Some people are at risk of having or developing particular forms of cancer. With colon cancer, as an illustration, people with certain conditions (such as chron's disease), with certain symptoms (such as blood in the stool), or with a family history are at risk. When an individual both has a family history and also has complaints of symptoms for instance rectal bleeding, physicians generally acknowledge that a colonoscopy is necessary in order to establish whether the individual has colon cancer or exclude it. Generally, doctors recommend that even those who are not at increased risk nonetheless get screened beginning at age fifty.
Should the physician conducting the colonoscopy is unable to look at the complete span of the colon it is feasible that there might be cancer present in the sections that were not examined. Any time obstructions or poor preparation yield incomplete visualization of areas of the colon, the individual should be told and the doctor ought to advise the individual that the colonoscopy should be repeated or a different option, like a virtual colonoscopy, be considered. Not doing so may result in an undetected tumor which can grow and progress to an advanced stage before it is diagnosed.
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This is what happened in one published case involving a 54 year old woman who passed away from metastatic colon cancer. The first risk factor that this woman's physicians knew she had was a family history of cancer of the colon. The woman had three colonoscopies throughout a period of six years. On numerous occasions she kept letting her physicians know that she was suffering from pain in the abdomen and that she saw blood in her stool. At a minimum, on one occasion her blood work further exhibited that she had anemia. All 3 are potential symptoms of colon cancer.
The paperwork from two of the colonoscopies demonstrated that there was incomplete visualization of the ascending colon and cecum as it was not possible to take the scope beyond the transverse colon. Yet, the doctor who conducted the three colonoscopies and followed her throughout this period continued telling the woman that her problems were caused by hemorrhoids.
She was ultimately diagnosed with colon cancer when her tumor was detected as she was undergoing exploratory surgery as a way to determine the cause of her condition. A considerable fraction of her intestines was removed due to the cancer. Chemotherapy followed. The woman ultimately passed away from the cancer. Her family pursued a wrongful death claim against the doctor for the failure to detect her cancer and to inform her that the results of the colonoscopies were incomplete. The law firm handled the claim was able to document that they were able to obtain a recovery for the family in the sum of $875,000
Physicians use diagnostic tests as a way to verify the existence of or rule out certain diseases including several kinds of cancers. For example, the colonoscopy is a procedure employed to search for or exclude colon cancer however the result of the test is only as good as the exactness with which the test was performed. A colonoscopy employs a scope to visualize the inside of the colon to find out whether there are any polyps or tumors in the colon
In the event that the entire colon is not visualized, as in the case above, a physician cannot rely on it to exclude cancer. Doing so makes about as much sense as only listening to one of your lungs, examining only one of your eyes, or ordering only part of a complete blood count. When the patient does have cancer this might result in a delay in diagnosis that allows the cancer time to grow and advance to an incurable stage. Under such circumstances the doctor who relied on such an incomplete outcome might be liable.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting cancer and wrongful death cases. You can learn more about cases involving advanced colon cancer and other cancers including prostatecancer by visiting the websites
