Jury Awards $2,750,000 For Male Patient After Physician Delayed His Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-07-20 15:16:08 | Word Count: 600
Statistically, males of African-American descent are at greater risk of getting prostate cancer earlier than the rest of the male population. Because of this, physicians generally agree that doctors should go over prostate cancer screening wiith men of African-American descent when the patient turns forty-five. By starting earlier for African-American men screening should result in diagnosing the cancer at an earlier and hopefully curable stage. In cases where physicians do not act in accordance with the guidelines for cancer screening andtheir patient is subsequently diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer that doctor might be liable for medical malpractice.
In addition to normal screening for cancer, physicians also should really be able to recognize and follow up when a patient has complaints suggestive of possible cancer. Doctors also should either perform screening testing requested by a patient or clearly inform the patient that they will not perform the test and that the patient will need to see another doctor if he still wants the test. Consider the reported case of a forty one year-old African-American male who had been involved in an ad campaign meant to raise awareness over the risk of prostate cancer in middle-aged males of African-American descent requested that his doctor screen him for the cancer.
[ advertisement ]
The doctor completed a digital examination and found no abnormalities. The doctor ordered blood tests for the patient but failed to include a request for a PSA test. The physician did not tell the patient that no PSA test had been done. The patient saw the physician again two years later. The physician again did not order a PSA test. This time the physician did not even perform a digital examination.
What this physician did was to leave the man with a false sense of security. By doing the digital examination of the prostate and ordering blood tests the doctor gave the man the understanding that the doctor had conducted a full screening. Undoubtedly the patient took the lack of any communication about the results to mean that the results must have been normal. This put him at ease with respect to whatever concerns prompted him to ask for the testing.
Subsequently that year the patient saw another physician in the same practice. This time the doctor not only performed a digital examination but also ordered a PSA test. The result - the patient had stage 4 prostate cancer which had reached the bone. Due to the fact that the man was now nearing forty-five and under the guidelines the physician would in general only then have at least had a discussion about screening. In this instance, though, the man had specifically asked to be tested earlier and the actions of the physician had led him to expect he had been.
The patient filed a malpractice claim against the doctor who had failed to get the PSA testing. The law firm that took the case documented that it took the case to trail where a jury returned a verdict in the amount of $2,750,000 on behalf of the patient. The defendants appealed. As the appeal was pending the parties reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount that was less than the original verdict. The Appeals Court subsequently denied the appeal.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting cancer malpractice cases. To learn about prostatecancer and other cancer matters including advanced breast cancer visit the websites
