Several Doctors WIth Information Of Man's Symptoms And Abnormal Test Results Take Several Years To Detect His Prostate Cancer
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-07-25 22:33:53 | Word Count: 667
Once a number of doctors become involved in the care a patient it might be very important for the physicians to relay urgent diagnostic results as well as follow-up and treatment recommendations to the patient and other physicians. People likely expect that the doctor will follow up with them in case there are any serious findings from tests ordered by the physician. Generally, when people do not hear back from a doctor many see that as an indication that everthing is fine and that there is no need for them to follow up with the physician. Hence if a physician has information or reaches a conclusion that the patient should have immediate follow up or treatment it is crucial for that doctor to inform the patient and possibly also at least the patient's primary care physician.
Consider the following reported medical malpractice claim. A number of doctors had a chance to detect the male patient's prostate cancer before it spread The patient first consulted with his primary care physician, a general practitioner, with complaints of urinary problems at 56 years old age. The family doctor assumed that the patient's problems were not caused by cancer. Thus, the family physician did not order any diagnostic testing, like a biopsy and failed to refer the patient to a urologist.
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Ten months later the individual saw a urologist who did a physical examination on the prostate gland and ordered a PSA blood test. The patient then found out that this urologist did not practice in the patient's insurance network and so the patient consulted with a second urologist.
Although the blood test results came in neither the results of the test nor the first urologist's suspicion of cancer and advice that a biopsy be carried out were passed on to the patient's primary care physician or to his second urologist. The authorized urologist did not order a PSA blood test. The approved urologist also conducted a physical examination of the prostate but found no abnormalities and so concluded that the patient did not have cancer.
As a result the cancer went undiagnosed for 2 years at which time it had spread beyond the prostate. By that time, the cancer had spread outside the prostate and was now advanced. Had the cancer been caught at the time the patient first complained of urinary problems, when he saw the first urologist, or even when he saw the second urologist, it would not have yet spread and, with treatment, the patient could have had roughly 97% prospect of surviving the cancer. Since the cancer was by now advanced at the time of diagnosis, however, the patient was likely to pass away from the cancer in fewer than 5 years. The law firm that handled this lawsuit documented that they were able to achieve a settlement during jury selection at trial for $2.5 million on behalf of the patient.
As the case reviewed above reveals, having multiple physicians for the same issue can result in multiple errors. The first mistake was not following the screening guidelines. This was an error committed by both the general practitioner and the second urologist. Additionally there was the failure of communication among the various physicians. If the patient had been able to stay with the unapproved urologist the patient would have known that the urologist suspected he had cancer and that a follow up biopsy was appropriate. Whether the other physicians would have agreed with that recommendation or would have passed this information to the patient if they had received it is unknown but then the error would have been entirely theirs.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting cancer malpractice cases. To learn about prostatecancer and other cancer matters including breast cancer metastasis visit the websites
