If a Physician Tells You You Only Have Hemorrhoids, You May Not Learn You Have Colon Cancer Before It Has Metastasized
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-08-26 21:55:30 | Word Count: 985
Being told one has colon cancer tends to raise dread in the majority of us. It can therefore feel quite reassuring to have your doctor tell you that you simply have hemorrhoids. That there is no need to be anxious about the blood in your stool. But this reassurance ought to only come after the doctor has eliminated the chance of colon cancer (and other potentially dangerous gastrointestinal problems). Otherwise, you may not learn that you have colon cancer until it is too late. If a doctor who automatically assumes that reports of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding by a patient are due to hemorrhoids and it subsequently is discovered that the patient had colon cancer all along, that physician may not have met the standard of care. Under those circimstances, the patient may be able to pursue a lawsuit against that doctor.
It is generally thought that there are presently at least 10 million people with hemorrhoids. An additional million new instances of hemorrhoids will likely occur this year. In contrast, a little more than the 100 thousand new cases of colon cancer that will be identified this year. In addition, colon cancers do not always. In the event that they do, the bleeding could be non-consistent. Also subject to the location of the cancer in the colon, the blood may not actually be apparent in the stool. Perhaps it is simply due to the difference in the volume of instances being diagnosed that a number of physicians simply think that the presence of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is due to hemorrhoids. This is gambling, pure and simple. A physician making this diagnosis is going to be right more than ninety percent of the time. It seems realistic, doesn't it? The problem, however, is that if the physician is inaccurate in this diagnosis, the patient may not learn he or she has colon cancer before it has developed to a late stage, perhaps even to the point where it is no longer treatable.
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If colon cancer is discovered while still contained within the colon, the individual's five year survival rate will normally be above eighty percent. The five year survival rate is a statistical guage of the percentage of individuals who are still alive at least 5 years subsequent to diagnosis. Treatment protocols for early stage colon cancer frequently calls for only surgery to take out the tumor and adjacent areas of the colon. Subject to factors such as how advanced the cancer is and the patient's medical history (including family medical history), age, and the person's physical condition, chemotherapy may or may not be recommended.
This is why physicians frequently advise that a colonoscopy should be done right away if a patient complains of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding. A colonoscopy is a method that uses a flexible tube with a camera on the end is employed to examine the inside of the colon. If growths (polyps or tumors) are detected, they can be taken out (if small enough) or sampled and examined for the presence of cancer (by biopsy). Colon cancer might effectively be ruled out as the reason for the blood only if a colonoscopy finds no cancer
But, should the cancer not be discovered until it has spread past the colon into the lymph nodes, the individual's five year survival rate will normally be roughly 53%. Aside from surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding areas of the colon treatment for this stage of colon cancer calls for chemotherapy in an attempt to eliminate any cancer that might be left in the body. By the time the cancer spreads to other organs like the liver, lungs, or brain, the patient's 5 year survival rate is reduced to roughly 8%. If treatment options exist for a patient at this point, they may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications. Treatment may or may not still be helpful when the cancer is this advanced. When treatment ceases to be helpful, colon cancer is fatal. This year, about 48,000 individuals will die in the U.S. from colon cancer metastasis.
As a result of diagnosing complaints of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding as caused by hemorrhoids while not doing the correct tests to rule out colon cancer, a doctor puts the patient at risk of not learning that the patient colon cancer before it reaches an advanced, possibly untreatable, stage. This may amount to a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and may lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit.
In the event that you or a a member of your family were told by a physician that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding were a result of nothing more than hemorrhoids, and were later diagnosed with advanced colon cancer, you ought to consult an attorney at once. This article is for basic educational purposes only and does not constitute legal (or medical) advice. If you have any medical problems you should consult with a doctor. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information contained herein but ought to rather seek professional legal counsel. A competent attorney who is experienced in medical malpractice might be able to help you determine if you have a claim for a delay in the diagnosis of the colon cancer. Immediately consult with an attorney are there is a time limit in cases like these.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. You can learn more about
advanced colon cancer and other cancer cases including
metastasized breast cancer visit the website
