Doctor Confronted With Lawsuit After Not Doing Prostate Cancer Screening Requested By Patient

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Statistically, men of African-American descent are at greater risk of developing prostate cancer earlier than other males. For this reason, doctors generally concur that doctors should go over prostate cancer screening wiith males of African-American descent once the man turns forty-five. A physician who fails to adhere to the guidelines for a patient might be liable if it is later discovered that he had prostate cancer which progressed to an advanced stage due to the doctor's failure to inform him about screening tests.

But beyond the guidelines, it might additionally be malpractice should a patient specifically request to be screened for a particular cancer and the doctor does not do so. For example, in a published lawsuit the patient was an African-American man, age 41, who requested to be tested for prostate cancer. The patient requested for the screening test after being part of a campaign to raise awareness concerning the risk middle-aged African-American men face with respect to prostate cancer.

There are 2 tests typically used to screen for prostate cancer. They are both done since they look for different indicators. The first is a physical examination of the prostate gland. The second is a blood test that measures the PSA level in the patient's blood stream. As per the patient's request the doctor did a physical examination of the prostate. The physician did not discover any palpable abnormalities on the prostate. The physician then ordered blood tests. The tests, though, did not include a PSA test. The patient thought a PSA test was ordered and just believed that there were no abnormal results given that he did not hear anything more about it. The patient saw the doctor again two years later. The doctor again failed to get a PSA test. This time the doctor did not even do a digital examination.

By conducting a physical examination of the prostate and ordering blood tests the physician brought about a scenario in which the patient thought that he had been correctly tested for prostate cancer and that everything came back normal indicating nothing suspicious for cancer. In situations like these, virtually all patients would likely believe that a PSA test was actually ordered along with the rest of the blood tests which has bee ordered on the second visit. Either way, though, he definitely was justified in thinking he had undergone a full screening in the earlier visit.

Subsequently that year the patient saw another physician in the same practice. This time the doctor not only performed a digital examination but also ordered a PSA test. The result - the patient had stage 4 prostate cancer which had spread to the bone. Given that the individual was now turning 45 and under the guidelines the doctor would in general only then have at least had a discussion about screening. In this instance, however, he had specifically asked to be tested earlier and the actions of the doctor had led him to believe he had been.

The law firm that handled this matter took it to trial and achieved a .75 Million jury verdict. The defense appealed and the parties settled for a confidential amount as the appeals was pending. Although the amount of the settlement was confidential it was less than the amount of the verdict. This is not an unusual way for both parties to reduce the risk of an adverse ruling by the Appeals Court. In this case the Appeals Court subsequently denied the appeal.



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