When Physicians Fail To Follow Up After PSA Results Indicate The Possibility Of Prostate Cancer
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-07-29 21:37:10 | Word Count: 567
Male patients are likely to possess a lack of understanding of prostate cancer, their own chances for the cancer, and the ways in which they can figure out whether they have prostate cancer. Many men have little, if any, understanding of the advantage of testing for prostate cancer or of the recommendations for when to start testing, how frequently to test, and the meaning of screening test results. Regrettably physicians sometimes do not screen male patients or fail to follow up with diagnostic testing after an abnormal result from a screening test.
Delayed diagnosis of prostate cancer incidents are all too common. This article will examine the following pattern: the physician (1) actually screens the individual for prostate cancer by keeping track of the amount of PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) in his system, (2) learns that the man has a high PSA level, but (3) does not inform the patient, fails to refer the patient to a urologist, and does not order a biopsy to determine if the elevated PSA is a result of prostate cancer. Examine the following lawsuit, for example:
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A doctor, an internist, discovered that his male patient had a PSA of 8. (a level above a 4.0 is normally considered high). The physician did not inform the patient. The doctor failed to refer the patient to a urologist. The doctor failed to order a biopsy. Two years later the doctor repeated the PSA test. This time it had risen to 13.6. Once again, the doctor said nothing to the patient. Again, the physician did not refer the patient to a urologist. And again, the doctor did not order a biopsy. Two years later the physician repeated the PSA test. It was not until three years after first learning of the patient's raised PSA level that the physician at last told him that he probably had cancer. By the time he was diagnosed he had metastatic prostate cancer and surgery was no longer one of the treatment options. Instead the man underwent radiation therapy and hormone therapy in an attempt to delay the further progression of the cancer. The law firm took this matter on reported that the lawsuit went to mediation and settled for $600,000.
However doing nothing after observing abnormal test results results in a situation in which those patients who do in fact have prostate cancer might not learn they have it until it has spread beyond the prostate, decreasing the patient's options for treatment, and considerably decreasing the possibility that the patient will be able to survive the cancer.
At a minimum they ought to tell the patient that the test results are abnormal and refer the individual to a urologist. In addition, the doctor can suggest diagnostic testing, for instance a biopsy.
This claim illustrates a type of error that can lead to the delayed diagnosis of a patient's prostate cancer. It comes about when the doctor actually follows the guidelines and screens male patients for prostate cancer however does not follow through when the test results are abnormal.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting cancer malpractice cases. To learn about prostatecancer and other cancer matters including stage 4 breast cancer visit the websites
