Diagnosed With Metastatic Colon Cancer? Was The Delay Caused By Your Physician?
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-08-15 12:25:46 | Word Count: 571
Consider the situation in which a person who has complained of rectal bleeding to their doctor and was told by the doctor that it was probably just hemorrhoids and there was nothing to be concerned about is later diagnosed colon cancer. All too frequently attorneys who handle cancer malpractice cases are contacted by a prospective client who begins by saying something similar to, “The physician assured me I just had hemorrhoids but I have now been diagnosed with colon cancer metastasis.” How does this happen and what options does the person and his or her family have if it does?
The first thing to note is that most doctors agree that when an individual presents with rectal bleeding or blood in the stool a colonoscopy ought to be performed so as to learn the reason for the blood. The colonoscopy helps determine whether the blood is due to colon cancer or something else like hemorrhoids. But merely assuming that the blood is due to hemorrhoids risks missing a cancer.
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Colon cancer is a disease that progresses over time. As it advances it becomes more difficult to treat effectively. For example, while it is contained inside the colon treatment generally involves surgery to remove the tumor and adjacent portions of the colon. Chemotherapy is often not used in the treatment of stage 1 and stage 2 unless it might be given to someone who is young as a preventative treatment. With surgery, someone with stage 1 or stage 2 has a good likelihood of still being alive at least five years after diagnosis. The relative 5-year survival rate is over ninety percent for stage I and seventy three percent for stage II.
By the time the cancer progresses to stage 3, it has spread outside the colon. At this stage treatment calls for both surgery and chemotherapy (perhaps with other medications as well). The relative 5-year survival rate for stage 3 is 53%. If it gets to stage 4, the relative 5-year survival rate is reduced to approximately eight percent. Treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications may or may not still be effective. When treatment stops being effective, the disease is fatal. Roughly forty eight thousand people will die from colon cancer this year alone.
If the individual with rectal bleeding gets a colonoscopy and the tumor is found prior to spreading to the lymph nodes or to other organs, it can often be removed during the colonoscopy if it is sufficiently small or by surgically removing the part of the colon containing the tumor. Hence a delay in diagnosis and treatment that is long enough for the cancer to get an advanced stage. When this is the case, the patient will need to undergo additional treatments and will have a drastically decreased likelihood of living for at least five years beyond diagnosis. Based on the laws of the jurisdiction in which the doctor caused the delay, this may give rise to a lawsuit for medical malpractice, or in the most severe case, for wrongful death.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. To learn about
advanced colon cancer and other cancer cases including
stage 4 breast cancer visit the website
