subject: Man And Wife Reach Settlement Against Physician Who Postponed Diagnosis Of Man's Prostate Cancer [print this page] Man And Wife Reach Settlement Against Physician Who Postponed Diagnosis Of Man's Prostate Cancer
This year roughly fourteen percent of the 193,000 males identified as having prostate cancer will already have advanced prostate cancer by the time the cancer is detected. With routine testing before the development of symptoms, including digital examinations and PSA blood tests, a number of these males could have been diagnosed before the cancer progressed to an advanced stage. A lapse of time until the cancer is advanced does not merely restrict the man's treatment options but also dramatically reduces his odds of surviving the cancer. Consider the following published 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 part 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 physician did nothing else at the time. Nearly 3 years went by before the doctor once more performed a physical examination and documents that the prostate is normal. This time, the doctor does not order a PSA test. The individual consulted with by a different doctor something like 6 weeks later as part of an insurance mandated medical examination. This doctor ordered a PSA test which comes back at 5.3. This is considered high. The patient then contacted his regular physician's office and was told to return for them to take their own PSA test. This test came back a 3.5 - in normal range. The physician told the patient not to worry and that no further action needed to be taken.
Again, almost 3 years passed before the doctor next screened the patient. The doctor again records the nodule. The physician then ordered a PSA test that came back at 4.7 - elevated. The physician does not tell the individual and does nothing further regarding these two abnormal test results. Close to 2 years later 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 shows the level at 14.1. On this occasion, the physician 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 top section of his right leg.
A malpractice claim followed in the process of which the physician stated that the existence of the nodule was an "abnormal" result. The law firm that handled this matter 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 wife's future wrongful death claim - the maximum recoverable under the controlling law.
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