What Would You Do If You Learned Your Physician Held Up The Diagnosis Of Your Prostate Cancer?

Imagine learning that you have prostate cancer. That's difficult because "cancer" is a word that brings with it a feeling of terror at the very though. Still possibly, you tell yourself, possibly it is not that bad. Perhaps we diagnosed it early and with proper treatment I'll beat it.

But it gets worse. Envision then discovering that is too late for that. The cancer has already spread to other areas of your body. A cure is hence no longer a possibility. Treatment will at most slow down the progress of the disease. And later, after that treatment no longer works, treatment that will lessen the pain from the ever growing cancer.

Perhaps you ask yourself, "Why me?" "Was it merely poor luck?" And then you may ask "How could this have been avoided?" "Was there anything I could have changed that would have prevented what now is an incurable disease?"

And then the news gets even worse. Envision now finding out that your doctor in whom you placed your faith to keep you healthy and to alert you of any possible health problems, had information that you were showing signs of early prostate cancer. Think about finding out that your doctor had this information a year or more prior to when you learned you had cancer. And picture discovering that had your doctor had given you this information when the data was first available your cancer could have been diagnosed while it was still contained within the prostate gland and could have been cured, could have been eliminated with proper treatment.

Do you believe that this could not happen to you? Well, look at what occurred to the male patients involved in the following cases:

Case:

Over a three year period a primary care physician failed to disclose to his patient that the results of blood tests revealed that the patient's PSA level was not only high it was also climbing. By the time the doctor finally advised the man about the abnormal test results the diagnosis was advanced prostate cancer. By then, the patient could no longer hope for a cure, but rather for treatment that would with luck slow down the spread of the cancer and later, reduce the pain

Case:

In addition to failing to tell the patient that he had an elevated and rising PSA, the physician actually advised him that the test results were normal. The patient found out he had cancer of the prostate 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 performed a digital examination of the patient's prostate gland and noticed that his prostate gland had a hardened area. The physician failed to inform the man. The doctor failed to refer the individual to a urologist for a consult. The doctor also did not perform a biopsy to determine whether 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 over 2 years. But, his doctor failed to let him know during that entire time. When the man was ultimately told he had prostate cancer he attempted surgery hoping that the cancer was still confined to the prostate gland and that surgery could eliminate the cancer. He also underwent months of hormonal therapy. And then post-surgical PSA levels found 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 cases announced being able to get compensation for the patients and their families in amounts that ranged from $400,000 to $1,500,000.

Far too many men end up in positions similar to the above. Whether the doctors fail to review the results of the tests, whether they take the position that there is no need to take action even though the PSA is high or a nodule of a certain size is detected in the prostate, or whether they just do not comprehend the guidelines and the standard of care for the action that is appropriate when screening results are abnormal, these physicians cause a delay that brings about the growth and spread of the cancer.

A number of physicians do not believe that there is any benefit to screening men for prostate cancer (or do not understand the standard of care) and either just do not screen their male patients or recommend against it. Other physicians do not check the results of screening tests while 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 unnecessary death from a cancer that could have been eliminated if found while in the early stages.

What if you were the one who received such news. You would likely fight the cancer as hard and as long as you could. Imagine being his spouse or life-partner. Imagine being his son or daughter. Imagine being his father or mother. You help him fight the cancer and you offer him all the love and support you can. You would help him fight the cancer and you offer him all the love and support you had to give.

Perhaps you might decide to bring a claim for medical malpractice to help protect your family's future. And you might hope that if forced to face the mistake and to incur a cost for it, possibly, just possibly, the physician will change the way he or she treats other patients subsequently so that this tragedy will never occur again.

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Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting cancer cases. To learn about advanced prostate cancer and other cancer matters including breast cancer metastasis visit the websites

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