Patient Discovers He Has Prostate Cancer Metastasis After 5 Years Of Symptoms And Abnormal Tests

Prostate cancer is a frightening disease

Prostate cancer is a frightening disease. While not 100% accurate doctors use diagnostics tests to doctors to figure out whether a patient has the cancer. Yet because of the likelihood of false negatives (a negative test outcome even if the patient in fact has cancer) doctors need to follow up and repeat tests as appropriate if patient symptoms and screening tests continue to indicate the possibility of cancer. The failure to do so might give rise to a lawsuit for medical malpractice.

In one documented case a patient communicated to his physician that he was suffering from urinary frequency and burning. The doctor commenced him on antibiotics and referred the patient to a urologist. The urologist did a cystoscopy which found that the individual had an enlarged prostate. The urologist additionally ordered a PSA blood test which registered a 16.3 (a result higher than a 4.0 is generally thought to be high). Because of this the urologist did a biopsy 2 months later. The biopsy was interpreted by a pathologist as showing no evidence of cancer.

The subsequent year the man returned to the urologist. Now the blood test registered a 2.9 (usually accepted as in normal range). The urologist concluded that the man had BPH (a benign enlargement of the prostate). After 3 months the patient consulted the family doctor for fever and nocturia (having to urinate over the night). The doctor began him again on antibiotics. A follow up urine culture showed up negative. The primary care physician therefore referred the man to the urologist. The urologist did a blood test which registered a 6.4 ( high).

A biopsy examines portions of the prostate. Therefore, a biopsy might miss the cancer. At this point, the urologist decided to depend on the preceding year's biopsy and to not do an additional one as a follow up. Instead, the urologist failed to follow up on the patient's symptoms and elevated test results. The subsequent year the individual returned to his family doctor. His symptoms including nocturia persisted. On physical examination the doctor documented that the man had a very enlarged prostate. However, the doctor did not do another test or re-refer the individual to a urologist. Standard blood testing 4 months afterward revealed that the male patient's PSA was at 7.4 Neither physician did anything to follow up.

The following year the primary care physician noted that the PSA level was 9.8 Once more, no follow up or referral to a urologist. Still one more 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 first claims of urinary problems the family doctor again recorded a significantly enlarged prostate gland and a PSA that had reached a 31. The doctor finally referred the patient back to the urologist.

The urologist confirmed that the patient's prostate was enlarged and placed the man on antibiotics for (two week safter which he would do another PSA blood test. Once the test was done 2 weeks soon after it showed a level of 33. A biopsy was then finally done which found cancer every sample taken. Testing eventually showed that the patient had prostate cancer which had spread to the lymph nodes, the liver and bone. Regardless of a course of both hormone therapy and radiation therapy the patient passed away nearly 18 months subsequent to his diagnosis. The law firm that handled this matter reported that the case settled for $1. Million.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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