Physician Might Be Liable For Medical Malpractice From Assuming Blood Is Due To Hemorrhoids And It Turns Out To Be Colon Cancer
By: J. Hernandez
Submitted: 2011-01-23 21:40:49 | Word Count: 826
Just the idea that one may have colon cancer tends to bring up fear in the majority of us. It can therefore feel highly reassuring for your doctor say that you merely 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 likelihood of colon cancer (and other potentially dangerous gastrointestinal issues). Otherwise, you might not discover that you have colon cancer until it is too late. Should a physician conclude without testing assumes that claims of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding by a patient are the result of hemorrhoids and it eventually is discovered that the patient had colon cancer all along, that doctor may have committed medical malpractice. Under those circumstances, the patient might be able to pursue a lawsuit against that physician.
In excess of 10 million men and women have hemorrhoids and another 1,000,000 new incidents of hemorrhoids will likely arise this year. In contrast, a little over the 100 thousand new instances of colon cancer that will be identified this year. Further, not all colon cancers bleed. In the event that they do, the bleeding may be intermittent. Also based on the location of the cancer in the colon, the blood may not even be apparent in the stool. Maybe it is simply as a result of the difference in the volume of instances being identified that some physicians basically think that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is because of hemorrhoids. This amounts to playing the odds. A physician who reaches this conclusion is going to be right greater than ninety percent of the time. It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? The problem, though, is that if the physician is inaccurate in this diagnosis, the patient might not learn he or she has colon cancer before it has reached a late stage, perhaps even to where treatment is no longer effective.
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In the event colon cancer is found while still contained within the colon, the patient’s chances of surviving the cancer are over eighty percent. The 5 year survival rate is a statistical indicator of the percentage of people who are still alive a minimum of five years after diagnosis. Treatment protocols for early stage colon cancer often requires just surgery in order to take out the tumor and surrounding sections of the colon. Subject to variables including the stage of the cancer and the individual's medical history , how old the person is, and the person's physical condition, chemotherapy may or may not be recommended.
This is why doctors commonly advise that a colonoscopy ought to be completed without delay if a patient has blood in the stool or rectal bleeding. A colonoscopy is a procedure that uses a flexible tube with a camera on the end is employed to visualize the inside of the colon. If growths (polyps or tumors) are detected, they can be removed (if sufficiently small) or sampled and checked for the presence of cancer (by biopsy). Colon cancer might properly be ruled out as the reason for the blood providing that a colonoscopy detects no cancer
As a result of diagnosing complaints of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding as resulting from hemorrhoids while not performing the appropriate tests to rule out colon cancer, a doctor puts the patient at risk of not finding out that the patient colon cancer until it reaches an advanced, possibly no longer treatable, stage. This might amount to a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and may end in a medical malpractice case.
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 due to nothing more than hemorrhoids, and were later diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer, you ought to speak to an attorney without delay. This article is for informational usage only and does not constitute legal (or medical) advice. If you have any medical problems you should consult with a physician. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information in this article but should rather seek professional legal counsel. A competent attorney with experience in medical malpractice might be able to help you determine should you have a claim for a delay in the diagnosis of the colon cancer. Do not wait to consult with an attorney are there is a time limit in lawsuits such as these.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases and wrongful death cases. You can learn more about cases involving colon cancer and other cancer matters including breast cancer by visiting the websites
