Doctor Agrees To Compensate Man For Half A Million Dollars

Doctor Agrees To Compensate Man For Half A Million Dollars After Not Finding His Prostate Cancer

Physicians use two tests - a physical exam of the prostate gland and the PSA blood test to discover prostate cancer in males prior to symptoms appearing. But, even though a doctor tests a male patient the tests do not amount to anything if the doctor fails to follow up with a referral to a specialist or order additional testing in case of abnormal results. This may lead to a delay in detecting the man's cancer and a deteriorating of the man's Look at the discussion below of a reported claim of a man diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. This occured despite the fact that his physician had information that was highly suggestive of cancer for between one to three years prior to the man's diagnosis. The case was based on the allegation of a lapse of time of from 1 and 3 years in detecting the male patient's cancer.

A male patient went to his family physician for a physical examination. Due to the mans age, the physician carried out a physical examination of his prostate and noted that it was slightly firm on the left. A hardening of the prostate may be due to cancer. The PSA, however, was only 2.35 (a reading ordinarily thought to be to be within the normal range). Virtually 2 years later, the man returned for another physical. The doctor now recorded no abnormalities with the prostate but the PSA test came back 4.18. This is abnormal and shows close to twice the previous reading. Furthermore this reading was nearly double that of the patient's PSA from two years earlier. But, the doctor had not advised the patient that there were abnormal prostate cancer screening test results that were suspicious for cancer, had not sent the man to a Urologist, and had not ordered any diagnostic testing (such as a biopsy) to determine whether the abnormal test results were due to cancer or to a benign reason. It was 3 years following the initial finding that the mans physician at last referred him to a Urologist (who found the cancer) after a PSA of 6.8.

By the time of the diagnosis, the the man had metastatic prostate cancer. The man went forward with a lawsuit against his family physician for the delayed diagnosis of the cancer. The doctor, though, argued that he never got the report of the PSA test. Consequently, the physician cliamed that he was not aware of the rise in the patient's PSA. The physician moreover argued that the plaintiff was not injured (suffered no harm) from the delay.

The law firm that handled this case revealed that a settlement was achieved with the doctor. The settlement happened over seven years after the mans diagnosis and he had not suffered a recurrence of the cancer up to that time. The reported sum of the settlement was for half a million dollars. The material in this article is not intended to be taken as either medical or legal advice. The above is solely meant to be common information. For any health issues check with a doctor right away.

The end result of this lawsuit upholds the observation that if a doctor does not act after abnormal test results and the resulting lapse of time allows a patient's condition and outlook to worsen that physician may be liable for medical malpractice. Should you feel you might be a victim of advanced cancer a consequence of medical malpractice consult without delay with a cancer lawyer.