Cancer Attorneys Help Patients With Metastatic Colon Cancer Whose Physician Did Not Follow Up

Patient: "Doctor, I am seeing blood in my stool."

Doctor: "Don't worry about it, you in all likelihood just have hemorrhoids."

However, some time subsequently this person discovers that the bleeding was actually due to a cancerous tumor in the colon. He or she now has advanced colon cancer that has progressed to the lymph nodes or even to a distant organ, like the liver or the lungs. What makes this happen and what options does the person and his or her family have if it does?

Physicians generally recommend that in the event that an individual spots rectal bleeding or blood in the stool, testing should be done to make sure the patient does not have colon cancer. The test that is often performed is the colonoscopy, which involves the use of a flexible scope with a camera on the end to visualize the interior of the colon. If growths (polyps or tumors) are found, they can be biopsied and perhaps taken out. The samples (biopsies) are then examined to see whether they contain cancer. If no cancer is found, then colon cancer can often be eliminated as the reason for the blood. Regrettably, all too often, an individual's physician will simply attribute the blood to hemorrhoids without referring the patient to a gastroenterologist and without conducting any testing, such as a colonoscopy, in order to make sure there is no cancer.

Colon cancer progresses over time. As it advances it gets harder to treat effectively. For example, while it is contained inside the colon treatment ordinarily involves surgery to remove the tumor and surrounding parts of the colon. Chemotherapy is often not part of the treatment of stage 1 and stage 2 unless it might be given to an individual who is young as a preventative measure. With surgery, someone with stage 1 or stage 2 has an excellent chance of still being alive at least five years after diagnosis. The relative 5-year survival rate is more than 90% for stage 1 and 73% for stage 2.

Once the cancer reaches stage 3, it has spread outside the colon. At this stage treatment calls for both surgery and chemotherapy (possibly with other medications ). The relative 5-year survival rate for stage 3 is fifty three percent. If it progress to stage 4, the relative 5-year survival rate is lowered to around eight percent. Treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications may or may not still be effective. Once treatment ceases to be effective, the disease becomes fatal. About 48,000 individuals will die from colon cancer this year alone.

If the individual with rectal bleeding undergoes a colonoscopy and the tumor is discovered before it has spread to the lymph nodes or to other organs, it can often be removed during the colonoscopy if it is sufficiently small or by surgically extracting the portion of the colon containing the tumor. Hence the additional time before diagnosis and treatment may be long enough for the cancer to reach an advanced stage. When this is the case, the patient will be required to undergo additional treatments and will have a greatly reduced chance of survival. Based on the laws of the jurisdiction in which the doctor caused the delay, this may give rise to a case for medical malpractice, or in the most extreme case, for wrongful death.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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