Lawsuit Involving The Colon Cancer Death Of Young Woman When Her Doctor Misdiagnosed Her Complaints
Physicians typically acknowledge that rectal bleeding
, even in an individual who is too young to qualify for routine screening, needs to be followed by a colonoscopy in order to determine if the bleeding is a result of a tumor or some other cause. Merely assuming that the blood is from hemorrhoids may constitute malpractice.
Consider what occurred in a published claim concerning a woman who told her family doctor that she saw blood in her stool and felt pain during bowel movements. She was only twenty four. The doctor, justwithout even doing an examination, told her to take a laxative after deciding that she had diarrhea and other bowel issues. She went back after 4 months claiming she had constipation, pain and problems sitting. Now the physician at last examined her yet assured her she had hemorrhoids. The doctor recommended an enema. She went back to the doctor on two additional occasions and every time was told she merely had hemorrhoids and she had nothing to be concerned with.
She needed to be hurried to an emergency room complaining of severe pain 7 months following her original visit to the family physician. They set her up for a colonoscopy and was found to have advanced colorectal cancer. The cancer was so prevalent by the time she underwent surgery that not only did the surgeon need to take out part of her colon but also had to remove her uterus and part of her lower intestines. This was followed by chemotherapy. The cancer came back and the woman died in less than 3 years. Her husband and minor daughter survived her.
The law firm that handled this case revealed that the case went to trail and the jury returned a verdict of $2,500,000. The verdict included the maximum of $350,000 allowed for pain and suffering under the law of the State where the physician practices. The rest of the award was for future lost wages. This lawsuit illustrates what is perhaps the most common medical error concerning a delay in the diagnosis of colon cancer.
Too often doctors do not perform a colonoscopy or send the patient to a gastroenterologist when a patient complains of rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. Instead, these physicians simply assume that the blood is the result of hemorrhoids. This is especially typical when the patient is less than fifty years old. When a situation such as the one above happens and the patient dies for the reason that the cancer progressed to where it was no longer curable due to the delay in diagnosis the surviving family might be able to bring a claim against the physician responsible for the delay.