Physician's Failure To Pursue Colon Cancer Screening Recommendations And Malpractice Cases

Colon cancer is the second leading source of deaths due to cancer

. Every year, approximately 48,000 individuals will pass away because of colon cancer. Many of these fatalities would be prevented with early detection and treatment through standard colon cancer testing of asymptomatic men and women.

When the disease is detected as a small polyp while undergoing a routine screening test, for example, a colonoscopy, the polyp can usually be removed during the colonoscopy. At this point, there is no need for the surgical removal of any segment of the colon. Once the polyp grows to the point where it turns cancerous and gets to Stage I or Stage II, the tumor and a section of the colon on each side of the tumor is surgical removed. The likelihood that the person will survive the cancer is over 90% for Stage I and seventy three percent for Stage II.

By the point the disease reaches Stage 3, a colon resection is no longer sufficient and the person also needs to undergo chemotherapy. At this stage the likelihood that the individual will continue to be alive more than five years after the diagnosis is reduced to fifty three percent, depending on such variables as the quantity of lymph nodes that show up positive for cancer.

Once the colon cancer reaches Stage 4, treatment may necessitate chemotherapy and possibly different drugs and even surgery on other organs. In case the dimensions and number of tumors in different organs (such as the liver and lungs) are sufficiently few, surgery on these organs may be the primary treatment, followed by chemotherapy. Sometimes the size or quantity of tumors in the other organs removes the choice of surgery as part of the treatment.

If chemotherapy and other drugs are able to reduce the number and dimensions of these tumors, surgery may at that point become an option as the second form of treatment. Otherwise, chemotherapy and various drugs (possibly from clinical trials) may temporarily halt or reduce the further spread of the cancer. The relative 5-year survival rate drops to roughly eight percent.

The statistics are clear. The time frame in which the colon cancer is diagnosed and treated makes a dramatic difference. If found and treated early, the patient has a high likelihood of surviving the disease. As diagnosis and treatment is delayed, the probability starts shifting from the individual so that once the colon cancer progresses to Stage III, the percentage is almost even. And the probability is reduced precipitously when the cancer gets to Stage 4.

But, too frequently physicians fail to advise routine cancer testing to men and women who are asymptomatic. When the cancer is finally detected - sometimes since the tumor has become so large that it is resulting in blockage, since the individual has unexplained anemia that is getting progressively worse, or because the patient begins to detect other indications - the cancer has already reached a Stage 3 or even a Stage 4. The individual now faces a much different outlook than he or she would have if the cancer had been found early through routine screening.

Attorneys who handle cancer cases often refer to this as a "loss of chance" of a better recovery. In other words, since the doctor did not recommend that the patient have a routine screening test, the cancer is now much more advanced and the person faces a much reduced likelihood of surviving the cancer. The failure of a doctor to recommend the individual undergo screening options for colon cancer might amount to medical malpractice.

by: Joseph Hernandez

POST COMMENT

Why A Malpractice Lawsuit Might Follow A Physician's Delay In Finding Prostate Cancer New Treatment Options for AIDS Patients How Is Your Liver Function? Holistic Treatments for Scabies Have You Been Exposed to Asbestos? Different Types Of Treatment For Cerebral Palsy Early Detection of Prostate Cancer Natural Treatments for ADD Asbestos Lives Among Us Asbestos- Who Is At Risk? Inpatient Treatment for Substance Abuse Your Guide to Mesothelioma Treatments Abrasions Treatment and Natural Treatment for Abrasions