Patient Describes His Symptoms To Three Doctors Who Take Years To Diagnose His Prostate Cancer

Many people have had the experience of getting a second opinion on a health matter

just to learn that the doctors consulted do not agree with each other. When ever a an incorrect diagnosis might literally mean the difference between life and death this might create a serious problem for the patient. The need for this kind of communication is not necessarily negated just because the patient fails to go back to one of the physicians. It becomes more problematic, however, if the one doctor who is on the right track ends up not communicating his or her suspicions and the other physicians are not catching the signs and not ordering the proper tests.

Consider the following reported lawsuit. Several doctors had an opportunity to diagnose the man's prostate cancer while it was in its early stages. The man first consulted with his primary care physician, a general practitioner, with urinary problems when he was 56 years old. The family physician assumed that the man's problems were not a result of cancer. Thus, the family physician failed to order any diagnostic testing, such as a biopsy and did not refer the man to a urologist.

The man, on his own, went to a urologist ten months later. The urologist conducted a physical examination of the prostate and ordered a PSA blood test. The individual then learned that the urologist was not approved by his insurance and he saw a different urologist who was approved.

The PSA test by the first urologist came back and that urologist advised a biopsy. However, that recommendation evidently was not communicated to the family doctor or the urologist approved by the insurance company. The second urologist decided that the examination of the prostate was normal and that there was no evidence of cancer.

It took an additional two years before the patient's prostate cancer was finally detected. By that point, the cancer had spread outside the prostate and was now advanced. Had the cancer been detected when the patient initially complained of urinary problems, when he saw the first urologist, or even when the second urologist failed to find any abnormalities with his prostate and failed to order a PSA test, it would have still been contained in the prostate and, with treatment, the patient would have had roughly 97% prospect of surviving the cancer. Since the cancer was already advanced at the time of diagnosis, however, the patient was likely to pass away from the cancer in under five years. The law firm that handled this case reported that they were able to achieve a settlement during jury selection at trial in the amount of $2,500,000 on behalf of the patient.

This lawsuit therefore illustrates 2 main varieties of failures. There was the failure on the part of the PCP and the second urologist to not follow the proper screening guidelines. The other error was one in communication. This took place when there was a miscommunication of the findings, suspicions, and advice of the urologist who was outside the insurance network and the other physicians. Although it is impossible to know whether the family doctor or the second urologist would have followed up on results of the PSA test from the first urologist or on that urologist's suspicion and recommendation they at a minimum would have had information and perspective they were missing.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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