When You Have Colon Cancer Symptoms Your Physician Should Order Appropriate Tests Or Risk A Malpractice Lawsuit

Just the idea that one may have colon cancer tends to bring up worry in the majority of us. It can therefore feel quite reassuring to have your doctor say that you just have hemorrhoids. That there is no need to be anxious about the blood in your stool. However this reassurance should not be given until the physician has ruled out the likelihood of colon cancer (and other potentially serious gastrointestinal issues). Otherwise, you may not find out that you have colon cancer until it is too late. If a doctor who routinely considers that claims of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding by a patient are from hemorrhoids and it eventually is discovered that the patient had colon cancer all along, that doctor may not have met the standard of care. Under those circimstances, the patient may be able to pursue a lawsuit against that physician.

In excess of 10 million people have hemorrhoids. An additional million new instances of hemorrhoids will probably arise this year. In comparison, a little over the 100 thousand new instances of colon cancer that will be diagnosed this year. Further, colon cancers do not always. In the event that they do, the bleeding may be intermittent. Also depending on where the cancer is in the colon, the blood may not even be seen in the stool. Perhaps it is in part as a result of the difference in the quantity of instances being diagnosed that some doctors merely suppose that the existence of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is from hemorrhoids. This amounts to playing the odds. A physician making this diagnosis will be correct greater than 90% of the time. It seems realistic, right? The problem, however, is that if the doctor is incorrect in this diagnosis, the patient may not learn he or she has colon cancer until it has reached a late stage, maybe to where treatment is no longer effective.

In the event colon cancer is discovered before it metastasizes outside the colon, the patient’s chances of surviving the cancer are over 80%. The 5 year survival rate is a statistical indicator of the percentage of individuals who are still alive a minimum of 5 years after diagnosis. Treatment for early stage colon cancer frequently requires just surgery to take out the tumor and surrounding portions of the colon. Based on variables including the stage of the cancer and the patient’s medical history (including family medical history), age, and the individual's physical condition, chemotherapy may or may not be necessary.

For this reason doctors commonly recommend that a colonoscopy should be ordered immediately if someone 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 used to see the interior of the colon. Should anything be detected during the procedure, it might be possible to take it out immediately should it not be very large. In any case, it will be biopsied to check for cancer. Only if no cancer is discovered from the colonoscopy can colon cancer be eliminated as a cause of the blood.

As a result of diagnosing complaints of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding as resulting from hemorrhoids while not completing the right tests to rule out colon cancer, a physician puts the patient at risk of not learning that the patient colon cancer before it progresses to an advanced, possibly untreatable, stage. This may amount to a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and may end in a malpractice lawsuit.

If you or a a member of your family were told by a doctor that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding were a result of nothing more than hemorrhoids, and have since been diagnosed with advanced colon cancer, you ought to speak to an atto
ey immediately. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal (or medical) advice. If you have any medical problems you should seek advice from doctor. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information in this article but ought to rather consult with an atto
ey. A competent atto
ey who is experienced in medical malpractice may be able to help you determine if you have a claim for a delay in the diagnosis of the colon cancer. Do not wait to contact an atto
ey are there is a time limit in cases such as these.