When Doctors Fail to Diagnose Prostate Cancer Before It Reaches An Advanced State

Imagine learning that you have prostate cancer. That’s hard because “cancer” is a word that engenders dread. However maybe, you tell yourself, maybe it is not that bad. Perhaps we caught it before it spread and with proper treatment I’ll beat it.

But it gets worse. Imagine then discovering that is too late for that. The cancer has already spread to other areas of your body. A cure is therefore no longer a possibility. The best you can hope for is treatment that will slow down the progress of the disease. Eventually, the treatment will stop working

Perhaps you ask yourself, “Why me?” “Was it just bad luck?” And then you probably ask “Was there any way this could have been avoided?” “Was there anything I might have done differently that would have averted what now is an incurable disease?”

And then the news gets even worse. Imagine now finding out that your physician, the individual you trusted to maintain you healthy and to alert you of any possible health problems, had information that you were at risk of having prostate cancer. Imagine finding out that your physician had this information a year or more prior to when you learned you had cancer. And image finding out that if your physician had informed you when the data was first available your cancer could have been detected while it was still contained within the prostate gland and could have been cured.

Do you think this will never happen ? Well, look at what happened to the men involved in the following situations:

In one published case, a man was seen by his doctor, an internist, for 3 yearsThroughout this period the doctor ordered PSA blood tests that revealed elevated levels (a sign that the patient might have prostate cancer and which physicians generally agree ought to be followed by a biopsy). The doctor, however, failed to disclose the abnormal test results to the patient. When the patient subsequently found out about the abnormal result and underwent a full cancer workup it was discovered that it was too late as he now had advanced prostate cancer. The law firm that represented the patient in this matter published that the resulting case settled for $600,000.

In the second documented lawsuit, the male patient was not only not informed that a series of PSA tests revealed levels that were elevated and getting worse, but rather was informed by his doctor that the results were normal. When the patient later consulted a urologist at the urging of his family, he was found to have advanced prostate cancer as the cancer had already spread to the seminal vesicles. The law firm that represented the patient in this matter documented that the resulting lawsuit settled for $1.5 Million.

Matters like the above take place all too frequently. Whether the doctors fail to check the results of the tests, whether they take the position that there is no need to take action even though the PSA is elevated or a nodule of a certain size is detected in the prostate, or whether they simply do not understand the guidelines and the standard of care for the action that is appropriate when screening results are abnormal, these doctors cause a delay that results in the growth and spread of the cancer.

A number of doctors do not believe that there is any benefit to screening men for prostate cancer (or do not appreciate the guidelines) and either simply do not screen their male patients or recommend against it. Other doctors do not review the results of screening tests. And other physicians fail to follow up on an abnormal screening test result and not order a biopsy or refer the patient to a specialist. The result: an avoidable death that becomes unavoidable.

Imagine being the patient who received that news. You 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.

Maybe you also choose to bring a lawsuit for medical malpractice to protect your family’s future. And you might hope that if compelled to face the mistake and to incur a cost for it, possibly, just possibly, the physician will improve the way he or she treats other patients afterward so that this tragedy will not occur again.