Prostate cancer is a dreadful disease. Even if not 100% accurate doctors use diagnostics tests to doctors to determine whether the cancer is present in a patient. However due to the possibility of false negatives (a negative test outcome even though the patient actually has cancer) doctors should follow up and repeat tests as appropriate if patient symptoms and screening tests keep showing the possibility of cancer. The failure to do so might leave the doctor liable for malpractice.
In one published case a patient communcated to his primary care physician that he was suffering from urinary frequency and burning. The doctor commenced the patient on antibiotics and refered him to a urologist. The urologist did a cystoscopy which showed that the man had an enlarged prostate. The urologist also did a PSA blood test which registered a 16.3 (anything above a 4.0 is typically thought to be abnormal). Thus the urologist performed a biopsy 2 months later. The biopsy was interpreted by a pathologist as benign.
The next year the patient returned to the urologist. On this occasion the PSA blood test came back a 2.9 (ordinarily accepted as in normal range). The urologist diagnosed the patient with BPH (a benign enlargement of the prostate). After 3 months the individual consulted the primary care physician for fever and nocturia (having to urinate over the night). The physician started him on a second round of antibiotics. A follow up urine culture registered negative. The PCP consequently referred the individual back to the urologist. The urologist did a PSA test which came back a 6.4 (again, high).
A biopsy examines parts of the prostate. Therefore, it is possible for a biopsy to miss the cancer. However, the urologist decided to use the prior year's biopsy and to not perform another one as a follow up. Rather, the urologist did nothing to do anything more regarding the patient's symptoms and abnormal PSA. The following year the man returned to his family doctor. His symptoms continued to include nocturia. On physical examination the doctor noted that the patient had a markedly enlarged prostate. Yet, the doctor did not do another a PSA or re-refer him to a urologist. Regular blood testing four months subsequently showed that the man's PSA was at 7.4 Neither doctor followed up in any way.
The next year the family doctor documented that the PSA level was 9.8 Once more, no follow up or referral to a urologist. Yet an additional year and the patient is still complaining about nocturia. On this occasion the PSA was 9.7 No follow up and no referral. Five years after the man's initial complaints of urinary problems the family doctor once more recorded a considerably enlarged prostate gland and a PSA level that had reached a 31. The physician lastly refered the patient back to the urologist.
The urologist verified that the patient's prostate was enlarged and placed the man on 2 weeksto be followed by an additional PSA blood test. When the PSA test was repeated 2 weeks later it recorded a level of 33. A biopsy followed which showed cancer every sample taken.
Testing eventually showed that the patient had cancer metastasis to the lymph nodes, the liver and the bone. Even after a course of both hormone therapy and radiation therapy the patient passed away around 18 months following his diagnosis. The law firm that handled this matter published that a settlement in the amount of S1.0 Million was reached in the case.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting medical malpractice cases. To learn about prostatecancer and other cancer matters including breast cancer metastasis visit the websites
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