What If Physician Is Liable For Death Of Young Person From Colon Cancer

Most people who get colon cancer are at least 50years of age. Yet, because of the deadly nature of the disease doctors generally concur that the presence of rectal bleeding, even in a patient below fifty, has to be investigated by a colonoscopy so as to figure out the source of the bleeding. Just supposing that the blood is the result of hemorrhoids falls below the standard of care. Far too often doctors do not do a colonoscopy or send the individual to a specialist when a individual complains of rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. Rather, these doctors simply assume that the blood is the result of hemorrhoids. This is particularly typical when the patient is less than fifty. Consider a not infrequent situation. The situation involves people who have not yet reached their fiftieth birthday yet begin finding that their stool has blood. Sometimes individuals in this situation have no other symptoms. Other times though there might be one or more additional indications other than the blood. One such potential indication is constipation. Some physicians will refer this person for a colonoscopy right away to figure out whether colon cance might be producing these symptoms. Yet, there are those physicians who not having the benefit of any tests ruling out the chance of colon cancer nonetheless decide that the problems are from hemorrhoids often without even confirming that the patient in fact has hemorrhoids. These doctors regularly assure the patient that there is nothing to be be concerned with. Unfortunately, sometimes this patient is ultimately diagnosed with metastasis, meaning that at that point is advanced given the delay from the physician not performing any tests when the individual initially complained of blood in the stool. At some point the person’s symptoms may get considerably worse. In a number of instances the person might begin to lose weight without a change in their diet or in the amount of exercise they do or might become anemic given the on going loss of blood. In still other instances the individual might suffer obstruction and be unable to have a bowel movement. This can be very painful and may force the individual to go to the emergency room. The problem is that when the symptoms become so serious that they can no longer be overlooked and the cancer is at last diagnosed, it may have spread. The chances of surviving colon cancer once it spreads to other organs, like the liver, fall to less than 10%. When a situation like this occurs and the patient either has to battle with metastatic cancer or passes away due to the fact the cancer spread so far that a cure was no longer possible due to the delay in diagnosis the surviving family may be able to bring a claim against the doctor responsible for the delay. The laws of the jurisdiction involved make a difference. For instance, there are time limits (generally called Statutes of Limitations) that limit the time within which a plaintiff can bring a lawsuit. Also, the standard of care can sometimes be different depending on the jurisdiction. What constitutes an injury to the patient in cancer lawsuits also varies by jurisdiction. And clearly, the extent of the metastasis and the amount of delay is important. If the delay was very short, for example, it is likely going to be very difficult or even impossible to show that the cancer had not yet metastasized or that the person had a much higher probability of surviving the cancer. Just what the prerequisites are to establish causation also depends on the jurisdiction. A skilled medical malpractice lawyer can help the patient or the family figure out whether they have a claim.