subject: Doctors Pay Out $1,000,000 Settlement To Family Of Male Who Died Of Metastatic Prostate Cancer [print this page] Prostate cancer is a dreadful diseaseProstate cancer is a dreadful disease. Although not 100% accurate there are diagnostic tests that assist doctors to determine when the cancer is present in a patient. But as a consequence of the possibility of false negatives (a negative test result despite the fact that the patient actually has cancer) doctors should follow up and redo tests as appropriate when patient complaints and screening tests continue to signal the possibility of cancer. The failure to do so may result in a malpractice claim.
In one recorded claim a man communicated to his doctor that he was suffering from urinary frequency and burning. The doctor began the patient on antibiotics and referred the patient to a urologist. The urologist performed a cystoscopy which revealed that the individual had an enlarged prostate. The urologist also ordered a blood test which came back a 16.3 (anything higher than a 4.0 is normally thought to be elevated). Consequently the urologist performed a biopsy 2 months later. The biopsy was interpreted by a pathologist as benign.
The following year the man returned to the urologist. Now the blood test registered a 2.9 (ordinarily regarded as normal). The urologist diagnosed the patient with an enlarged prostate. Three months later the patient went to the family doctor with complaints of fever and urinating during the night. The doctor commenced him on a second round of antibiotics. A follow up urine culture showed up negative. The PCP therefore referred the man to the urologist. The urologist did a PSA test which came back a 6.4 (again, high).
A biopsy examines portions of the prostate. Hence, it is possible for a biopsy to miss the cancer. Yet, the urologist decided to depend on the preceding year's biopsy and to not perform another one as a follow up. Rather, the urologist failed to follow up on the patient's symptoms and high PSA.
The following year the patient returned to his primary care physician. Complaints including nocturia persisted. On physical examination the physician documented that the man had a highly enlarged prostate. But, the doctor did not order a PSA or re-refer the individual to a urologist. Routine blood testing 4 months subsequently revealed that the person's PSA was at 7.4 Neither doctor followed up in any way.
The next year the family doctor noted that the PSA level was 9.8 Once more, no follow up or referral to a urologist. Still an additional year and the individual continues to have problems with nocturia. This time the PSA was 9.7 No follow up and no referral. Five years after the male patient's first complaints of urinary problems the family doctor again recorded a significantly enlarged prostate gland and a PSA level that had now risen to 31. The doctor finally refered the patient back to the urologist.
The urologist confirmed that the patient's prostate was enlarged and put the man on 2 weeksto be followed by another PSA test. When the PSA test was repeated two weeks soon after it showed a level of 33. A biopsy was then at last done which revealed cancer in all six of the samples. Testing subsequently uncovered that the man had cancer metastasis to the lymph nodes, the liver and bone. Even after hormone therapy and radiation therapy the man passed away nearly 18 months after his diagnosis. The law firm that represented his family reported that the matter settled for $1.0 Million.
