If Doctors Fail to Diagnose Prostate Cancer Until It Reaches An Advanced State
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-08-22 11:42:58 | Word Count: 812
What would you do if you discovered that you had cancer of the prostate? What would you do if you then additionally discovered that the cancer was advanced rendering it, at the current time, not curable? And how would you react if you then learned that your doctor either failed to adequately monitor you for prostate cancer or dismissed abnormal results of screening tests that could have helped diagnose your cancer when before it had spread, at a time when it was still curable?
Do you assume that this could not happen to you? Well, look at what occurred to the men involved in the following cases:
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Case:
Over a three year time frame a primary care physician failed to inform his patient that the results of blood tests showed that the individual's PSA level was not only elevated it was actually climbing. When the doctor finally told the man about the abnormal test results the result was a diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer. By then, the patient could no longer hope for a cure, but instead for treatment that would hopefully slow down the spread of the cancer and later, ease the pain
Case:
Not only did the doctor in this case not tell his patient his PSA level had been abnormal and rising, the physician in fact advised him that the test results were normal. The patient discovered he had prostate cancer because he went to a urologist at the urging of a family member. The diagnosis - prostate cancer that had spread to the seminal vesicles.
Case:
A primary care physician completed a physical examination of the patient's prostate gland and found that his prostate gland had a hardened area. The physician failed to inform the man. The doctor failed to refer the patient to a urologist for a consult. The doctor also failed to perform a biopsy to discover if the hardened area was cancerous or benign. When the patient eventually discovered the cancer it had already metastasized to other parts of his body.
Case:
The patient has high PSA levels for more than two years. Yet, his doctor failed to let him know for that whole period of time. At the time the patient was finally diagnosed with prostate cancer he attempted surgery in the hopes that the cancer had not spread beyond the prostate and that surgery could eliminate the cancer. He also had months of hormonal therapy. And then post-surgical PSA levels verified that there was still cancer present in his body.
There were law firms that represented the patients and families in each of the cases discussed above. The law firms that handled these claims announced being able to get compensation for the patients and their families in amounts that ranged from $400,000 to $1,500,000.
Situations like the preceding take place all too frequently. Whether the physicians do not review the results of the tests, whether they take the position that there is no need to take action even though the PSA is elevated or a nodule of a certain size is detected in the prostate, or whether they just do not understand the guidelines and the standard of care for the action that is proper when screening results are abnormal, these doctors are responsible a delay that ends up with the growth and spread of the cancer.
Some doctors do not think that there is any benefit to screening men for prostate cancer (or do not understand the guidelines) and either simply do not screen their male patients or recommend against it. Other doctors do not review the results of screening tests. And other doctors do not follow up on an abnormal screening test result and not order a biopsy or refer the patient to a specialist. The result is often tragic: an avoidable death that becomes unavoidable.
What if you were the patient who received such news. You would likely fight the cancer as hard and as long as you could. What if you were his spouse, his child, his parent? You would help him fight the cancer and you offer him all the love and support you had to give.
Possibly you would decide to bring a lawsuit for medical malpractice to help protect your family's future. And you might hope that if compelled to confront the mistake and to pay a cost for it, maybe, just maybe, the doctor will change how he or she treats other patients afterward so that this tragedy will never occur again.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. To learn about advanced prostate cancer and other cancer matters including breast cancer metastasis visit the websites
