Was Your Doctor Responsible For The Delay Letting Your Colon Cancer Metastasize?

It is not uncommon for a medical malpractice lawyer to be approached by a potential client who starts by saying something like, “A doctor kept telling me I only had hemorrhoids yet I have now been diagnosed with colon cancer metastasis.” What makes this happen and what options does the individual and his or her family have when it does?

The first thing to note is that most doctors acknowledge that if someone presents with rectal bleeding or blood in the stool a colonoscopy needs to be performed so as to establish the source of the blood. The colonoscopy helps figure out whether the blood is from colon cancer or something different like hemorrhoids. But only assuming that the blood is the result of hemorrhoids risks a delay in diagnosing a cancer.

Colon cancer will kill approximately forty eight thousand individuals this year. Colon cancer becomes fatal when it grows and spreads outside of the colon getting into the bloodstream through lymph nodes and taking hold in additional organs like the liver and the lungs. Once the cancer reaches that point a patient’s options for treatments are restricted and the likelihood that he or she will outlive the cancer are considerably lowered. Treatments, which may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications, may or may not be effective.

If at some point treatment is no longer effective, colon cancer is fatal. Yet it takes time for the cancer to reach that point. It usually starts off as a polyp. Eventually these cells grow and get outside the colon where they then begin to spread and grow more.

It is therefore critical that the cancer be diagnosed before it has spread. Regrettably, all too frequently physicians merely assume that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is the result of hemorrhoids, despite various reports by the person. Instead of referring the patient to a a gastroenterologist or ordering tests, such as a colonoscopy, to rule out the posibility of cancer, they convey to the individual that there is nothing to worry about.

In the event the patient did have cancer and it is not discovered until later, it might progress to a stage 3 or a stage 4 . Now, it may be much more advanced than when the patient first complained of rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. As a result, the person now has a much reduced chance of survival. In such situations, the failure of a doctor to correctly rule out cancer at the time of the patient’s complaints may amount to a departure from the accepted standard of medical care resulting in a medical malpractice claim.