subject: Attorney Helps Patients With Advanced Colon Cancer Due To Medical Malpractice By A Doctor [print this page] Consider the following conversation between a patient and his or her doctor.Patient: Doctor, I notice blood in my stool.Doctor: You in all likelihood simply have hemorrhoids.Some time later this patient finds out that the bleeding was in fact caused by a cancerous tumor in the colon. He or she now has advanced colon cancer that has progressed to the lymph nodes or even to a distant organ, like the liver or the lungs. What makes this happen and what options does the individual and his or her family have if it does?
The first thing to note is that most physicians agree that if a patient complains of rectal bleeding or blood in the stool a colonoscopy ought to be conducted in order to learn the reason for the blood. The colonoscopy helps figure out whether the blood is due to colon cancer or something different such as hemorrhoids. But only assuming that the blood is the result of hemorrhoids risks a delay in diagnosing a cancer.
Colon cancer will kill approximately forty eight thousand people this year. Colon cancer becomes fatal when it grows and progresses outside of the colon reaching the bloodstream by way of the lymph nodes and taking hold in additional organs such as the liver and the lungs. Once the cancer gets to that point the person's treatment alternatives are restricted and the possibility that he or she will outlive the cancer are substantially diminished. Treatments, which may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other drugs, may or may not eliminate the cancer.
If at some point treatment no longer works, the cancer becomes fatal. Yet it takes time for the cancer to get to that point. Colon cancer typically starts off as a polyp. Over time these cells grow and make their way outside the colon where they then begin to spread and grow more.
If the individual with rectal bleeding undergoes a colonoscopy and the tumor is located prior to spreading to the lymph nodes or to other organs, it can often be removed in the course of the colonoscopy if it is sufficiently small or by surgically extracting the section of the colon containing the tumor. Hence a delay in diagnosis and treatment that is long enough to allow the cancer to get an advanced stage. When this is the case, the patient will have to undergo additional treatments and will have a greatly lowered chance of survival. Subject to the laws of the jurisdiction in which the physician was responsible for the delay, this may give rise to a claim for medical malpractice, or in the most extreme case, for wrongful death.
by:Joseph Hernandez
Zaproxy alias impedit expedita quisquam pariatur exercitationem. Nemo rerum eveniet dolores rem quia dignissimos.
