Fifty Four Year Old Woman Dies Of Colon Cancer After It Was Undiagnosed During 3 Colonoscopies
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2010-11-07 18:23:36 | Word Count: 817
With regards to colon cancer there are a few risk factors which should lead a doctor to test the person for the existence of the cancer. If a person both has a family history and also has complaints of symptoms for example rectal bleeding, physicians usually concur that a colonoscopy is required in order to check whether the individual has colon cancer or exclude it. Besides testing individuals who are at a greater risk level, doctors additionally typically advocate that asymptomatic people who are 50 or older have routine screening in an effort to discover any cancer that may be growing in the colon before it reaches an advanced stage.
In case the physician conducting the colonoscopy cannot look at the complete span of the colon it is possible that there could be cancer present in the sections that were not examined. One of the reasons that a physician might not complete the colonoscopy is inadequate prior preparation resulting in inadequate visualization or the presence of an obstruction which makes it impossible to pass the scope beyond the location of the obstruction. When situations like these occur the physician should inform the patient and recommend that the patient either have an alternative procedure or a repeat colonoscopy. In the event that the physician does not let the patient know that the colonoscopy was no finished or that there was insufficient visibility and recommend suitable follow up too much time might pass before the patient begins displaying symptoms or gets another screening procedure.
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One lawsuit that was documented concerned a female patient who died of colon cancer in her mid forties because her cancer was not discovered until it had already metastasized even though her doctors for years had information that she was at high risk. The first risk factor that this woman's physicians knew about was a family history of cancer of the colon. During the length of six years, physicians performed three colonospies on this patient. During that period, she informed the physician that she suffered rectal bleeding and abdominal pain frequently. At a minimum, on one occasion the woman's blood tests additionally exhibited that she had anemia. The three are potential symptoms of colon cancer.
The records from 2 of the colonoscopies highlighted that the visualization was weak of the ascending colon and cecum as it was impossible to take the scope further than the transverse colon. Still, this very doctor kept telling the patient that she did not need to be concerned. The doctor kept saying to the patient that her symptoms were the result of hemorroids, at no time informing her that it had not been possible to check the full length of her colon.
The woman was ultimately diagnosed with colon cancer when her tumor was detected as she was undergoing exploratory surgery as a way to uncover the cause of her condition. The cancer had grown and spread so far that the patient had to have a significant portion of her intestines taken out and then had to undergo chemotherapy. Regrettably, even with treatment she passed away from the cancer. Her family went forward with a wrongful death claim against the doctor for the failure to detect her cancer and to tell her that the results of the colonoscopies were incomplete. The law firm handled the matter was able to document that they acheived a settlement of $875,000 on behalf of the family.
Doctors employ diagnostic tests to detect or exclude particular diseases like certain kinds of cancers. For instance, the colonoscopy is a procedure employed to find or exclude colon cancer however the result of the test is only as good as the exactness with which the test was performed. For the procedure a doctor inserts a scope to see the interior of the colon so as to check whether there are any polyps or tumors in the colon
In the event that the complete colon is not visualized, as in the lawsuit above, a doctor cannot rely on it to exclude cancer. Doing so makes about as much sense as only listening to one of your lungs, examining only one of your eyes, or ordering only part of a complete blood count. In the event that the patient does have cancer this may result in a delay in diagnosis that allows the cancer time to grow and advance to an incurable stage. Under such circumstances the doctor who relied on such a partial outcome might be liable under a medical malpractice or even wrongful death claim.
Author Resource:-
Hernandez is an Attorney accepting cancer and wrongful death cases. You can learn more about cases involving colon cancer metastasis and other cancers including prostate cancer by visiting the websites
