$1.25 Million Settlement In Case Alleging Physician Did Nott Follow Up On Colon Cancer Indications

There are times when colon cancers bleed. In certain cases, the blood might show up in the stool. IN those circumstances in which the cancer is near the rectum, the blood could even appear as bright red. Regardless of whether the blood cannot be seen, it might nevertheless be possible to find out that the patient is bleeding in other ways. For instance, the loss of blood may manifest as anemia. Blood tests may reveal internal loss of blood that could be caused by cancer in the colon. The main blood test results to check are the hemoglobin, hematocrit, and Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) levels. Low levels may signify blood loss and iron deficiency anemia. When a person is found to have levels that are below normal levels for these tests physicians commonly agree that there ought to be additional testing to discover the explanation for the blood loss, such as the possibility of cancer of the colon.

Look at the matter of a sixty four year old male patient whose blood tests showed all of the above. The subsequent year, the individual's blood work revealed a worsening of the person's problem. Furthermore, a guaiac test revealed the presence of blood in the patient's stool. Without any further testing, the physician added a diagnosis of hemorrhoids into the individual's record. Also, the patient's PSA level (a test that is used to screen males for prostate cancer) was a 10.3 (a level above a 4.0 is generally thought to be high and worrisome for prostate cancer). The doctor did not put any report in the man's chart to indicate an examination of the prostate. The doctor did not relay to the person about the high PSA levels and did not refer the patient to a specialist.

Approximately 2 years later the person was seen by a different physician. Because of the patient's age this doctor ordered a barium enema. The result: a diagnosis of advanced colon cancer. The person died of the spread of the cancer within 3 years following his diagnosis. The person's family filed a claim against the physician who ignored the patient's abnormally low blood test results and overlooked the existence of blood in the man's stool. The law firm that handled the lawsuit was able to report that it settled for $1.25 million.

Blood tests are done for a reason. Abnormal test outcomes suggest that there might be something wrong, possibly dangerously wrong with the individual and call for follow up. Sometimes follow up includes repeating the blood test within a short period of time to determine if the levels improve. But when the levels are sufficiently above or below normal levels or continue to worsen, physicians ordinarily agree that this raises the need to order appropriate other tests to find out the reason behind those levels. Physicians further generally consent that blood in the stool of an adult person calls for immediate attention to rule out cancer of the colon as the cause. A colonoscopy is most frequently used to examine all the colon and either locate or exclude the existence of any tumors. This doctor failed to do any of this.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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