Physician Liable For Malpractice By Supposing Without Testing That Blood Is No Due To Colon Cancer

Being told one has colon cancer tends to raise fear in nearly all of us

. It can hence feel highly reassuring to have your doctor tell you that you only have hemorrhoids. That there is no need to worry about the blood in your stool. Yet this reassurance should only come after the physician has eliminated the chance of colon cancer (and other possibly dangerous gastrointestinal issues). Else, you might not learn that you have colon cancer before it is too late. If a physician automatically considers that complaints 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 physician may have committed medical malpractice and the patient might have a legal claim against that physician.

It is generally thought that there are over 10 million people with hemorrhoids and another 1,000,000 new cases of hemorrhoids will likely arise this year. In contrast, a little more than the 100 thousand new incidents of colon cancer that will be identified . In addition, not all colon cancers bleed. If they do, the bleeding could be non-consistent. Also depending on the location of the cancer in the colon, the blood might not even be visible in the stool. Maybe it is in part due to the difference in the volume of cases being diagnosed that a number of doctors basically think that the existence of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is from hemorrhoids. This amounts to playing the odds. A physician who reaches this conclusion is going to be correct over 90% of the time. It seems sensible, doesn't it? The problem, however, is that if the doctor is inaccurate in this diagnosis, the patient might not find out he or she has colon cancer before it has developed to a late stage, possibly even to where treatment is no longer effective.

For this reason doctors commonly advise that a colonoscopy ought to be ordered immediately if someone has blood in the stool or rectal bleeding. A colonoscopy is a method 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 remove it right away if it is not very big. In any case, it will be biopsied to check for cancer. Only if no cancer is detected from the colonoscopy can colon cancer be ruled out as a source of the blood.

But, if the cancer is not detected until it has spread outside of the colon into the lymph nodes, the patient's five year survival rate will normally be roughly fifty three percent In addition to surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding areas of the colon treatment for this stage of colon cancer entails chemotherapy in an attempt to remove any cancer that might remain in the body. If the cancer spreads to distant organs like the liver, lungs, or brain, the person's 5 year survival rate is reduced to approximately eight percent. If treatment options exist for a patient at this point, they might include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications. Treatment may or may not still be effective the moment the cancer is this advanced. If treatment stops being effective, colon cancer is fatal. This year, roughly forty eight thousand men and women will die in the U.S. from advanced colon cancer.

By telling the patient that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding as resulting from hemorrhoids while not doing the proper tests to eliminate the possibility of colon cancer, a doctor puts the patient at risk of not finding out he or she has colon cancer until it reaches an advanced, possibly untreatable, stage. This may amount to a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and may bring about a malpractice claim.

In the event that you or a a member of your family were assured by a physician that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding were a result of nothing more than hemorrhoids, and were subsequently diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer, you need to contact a lawyer right away. This article is for basic educational usage only and does not constitute legal (or medical) advice. For any medical concerns you should consult with a doctor. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information in this article but should instead consult with an attorney. A competent attorney 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. Immediately consult with an attorney are there is a time limit in lawsuits such as these.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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