How Not Recognizing Signs Of Colon Cancer May Trigger A Malpractice Claim

Delayed diagnosis claims often arise concerning cancer. Among the most often seen lawsuits concern metastatic breast cancer, metastatic prostate cancer and metastatic colon cancer. Let's examine those concerning colon cancer. A pattern that occurs far too often involves a doctor telling a person with complaints of blood in the stool that it is just hemorrhoids and there is nothing to worry about. Yet, the blood is actually from colon cancer the entire time. What legal options does the patient have in these circumstances?

The first thing to note is that most physicians agree that anytime a person presents with rectal bleeding or blood in the stool a colonoscopy ought to be conducted so as to establish the reason for the blood. The colonoscopy helps establish whether the blood is the result of colon cancer or something else such as hemorrhoids. But merely supposing that the blood is the result of hemorrhoids risks not detecting a cancer.

Colon cancer is a disease that progresses over time. As it advances it gets more difficult to treat effectively. For instance, when the disease is in stage 1 or stage 2, it is still contained inside the wall of the colon. Treatment for these stages normally involves surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding parts of the colon. Chemotherapy is usually not part of the treatment of stage 1 and stage 2 unless it might be given to a person who is young as a preventative treatment. With surgery, the individual with stage 1 or stage 2 has an excellent likelihood of still being alive at least five years after diagnosis. The relative 5-year survival rate is over ninety percent for stage I and seventy three percent for stage II.

Once the cancer has spread outside the colon. At this stage treatment calls for both surgery and chemotherapy (possibly with additional drugs ). The relative 5-year survival rate for stage 3 is fifty three percent. If it gets to stage 4, the relative 5-year survival rate is reduced to roughly eight percent. Treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications may or may not still be effective. When treatment stops being effective, the disease is fatal. Approximately 48,000 people will die from colon cancer this year alone.

It is thereby critical that the cancer be detected early. Unfortunately, all too often doctors simply assume that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is the result of hemorrhoids, despite multiple reports by the individual. Instead of sending the individual to a a gastroenterologist or performing tests, such as a colonoscopy, to rule out the posibility of cancer, they tell the individual that there is nothing to worry about.

If the individual did have cancer and it is not discovered until later, it might advance to a stage 3 or a stage 4 by the time of diagnosis. At this point, it might be much more advanced than it was at the time the patient first reported rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. As a result, the patient now has a much reduced chance of survival. Under such circumstances, the failure on the part of a doctor to correctly rule out cancer at the time of the patient's complaints might constitute a departure from the accepted standard of medical care resulting in a medical malpractice lawsuit.