Physician Liability For Delaying Detection Of Prostate Cancer

Consider that your doctor physically examines your prostate for any signs of potential cancer

, such as an enlargement or a hardening of the gland and whether there are any nodules detectable on the gland. Imagine the physician orders blood tests, including a PSA test which is used for the early detection of prostate cancer. This is how to check whether a man without any symptoms of prostate cancer may actually have it. Imagine the results actually were not normal.

However, a number of doctors do not advise male patients who are asymtomatic to test for prostate cancer. They take the position that screening has little, if any, value. One factor, nevertheless, remains consistent. If of a screening test is abnormal the patient should be informed about the results and either be referred to a specialist or be told about the option for diagnostic testing, like a biopsy. Again, however, a number of doctors also believe that, at least under certain situations, a male patient diagnosed with prostate cancer does not have to treat it immediately and just needs to carefully monitor the cancer.

Should this happen, the cancer becomes incurable before the patient turns symptomatic and is finally diagnosed. Unfortunately, if a physician noted that the patient's prostate was enlarged or there was a nodule on the gland and the PSA test results suggested abnormally high levels of the antigen and the physician did not tell the man of the abnormal results, the man would in all likelihood believe that meant the results were all normal.

The lengthier the delay in finally carrying out tests that will lead to a diagnosis of the cancer the greater the likelihood that by the time it is finally diagnosed the cancer will have attained an advanced stage. This will drastically reduce treatment options, will eliminate the possibility of a cure, and will cut short the patient's life. There is a type of cases in which the male patient was ultimately diagnosed yet by that time the cancer was advanced and a cure was no longer a possibility.

Screening tests can yield false positives. This means that certain patients with abnormal screening results actually do not have cancer. But doing screening tests for cancer is meaningless without follow up as it gives the patient an incorrect sense of security thinking that he has no cancer as the doctor tested him and did not advise him that the screening tests showed he might have cancer. Doctors typically agree that there is a need for follow up if the results of screening tests come back as abnormal.

by: Joseph Hernandez

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