subject: Doctor Settles With Patient For $850,000 After Delay In The Diagnosis Of His Cancer [print this page] This year around 14% of the 193,000 males diagnosed with prostate cancer will already have advanced prostate cancer by the time the cancer is detected. With screening, including digital examinations and PSA blood tests, many of these men might have been diagnosed while their cancer was in the early stages. A delay until the cancer is advanced does not merely constrain the mans treatment alternatives but also dramatically decreases his odds of surviving the cancer. Look at the following reported lawsuit as an example.
While doing a physical examination on a 56 year old male patient, a doctor noted a small nodule on the left side of the prostate. The physician ordered a PSA test the results of which showed the level to be 3.1 - or within normal range. The doctor did nothing else at the time. Nearly three years went by. The physician again did a physical examination and records that the prostate is normal. This time, the doctor fails to order a PSA test. The man saw by a second physician something like six weeks later as part of an insurance mandated medical examination. This physician ordered a PSA test which comes back at 5.3. This is considered high. The man then contacted his regular physician's office and was told to return for them to take their own PSA test. This test returned a 3.5 - in normal range. The physician told the individual not to worry and that nothing else needed to be done.
Again, almost 3 years went by until the doctor next screened the patient. The doctor again records the nodule. The physician then ordered a PSA test that registered at 4.7 - elevated. The doctor does not inform the man and takes no action on these two abnormal test results. Nearly two years after the physical examination shows that the prostate not only had a nodule, but was firm on the side of the nodule and was enlarged. The PSA test now revealed that the leve had gone up to 14.1. On this occasion, the doctor finally refers the patient to a Urologist who diagnoses the patient with stage 4 prostate cancer that had reached the bones in his pubic area and the upper portion of his right leg.
An action for malpractice followed during which the doctor verfied that the existence of the nodule indicated an abnormal result. The law firm that assisted the man and his wife reported that the matter settled in the sum of $850,000. This sum included two hundred fifty thousand dollars for non-economic damages and two hundred fifty thousand dollars for the wifes future wrongful death claim. This is the top amount that can be recovered for those claims under the laws of the state in which the lawsuit arose.
by: Joseph Hernandez
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