Imagine you are a male and you see your physician for your yearly checkup. Imagine the doctor orders blood tests, including a PSA test for the early detection of prostate cancer. So far, so good. This is the way to check whether a man without any symptoms of prostate cancer may in fact have it. Imagine the tests came back outside the normal range
Yet, there is still debate amid some doctors over the way to screen asymptomatic male patients for prostate cancer or whether to screen at all. They hold that screening has little, if any, value. If of a screening test is abnormal the patient needs to be informed about the results and either be referred to a specialist or be told about the option for diagnostic testing, like a biopsy. Once more, however, some doctors also believe that, at least under certain circumstances, a man diagnosed with prostate cancer does not have to undergo treatment right away and simply needs to carefully monitor the cancer.
If the doctor does not give the patient the option to undergo screening or does not tell the patient about the abnormal test results the patient's prostate cancer may spread and metastasize without the man even knowing he may have cancer. 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 notify the man of the abnormal results, the individual would in all likelihood assume that meant there was no need to follow up. If the patient does actually have cancer, not informing the patient that he may have cancer will postpone his diagnosis.
A delay might, in turn, give the cancer time to reach an advanced stage. Once a cancer metastasizes treatment will at best delay the progression of the cancer and lower the effects (like pain) of the cancer. Under such circumstances, that patient and his family might be able to pursue a failure to diagnose medical malpractice lawsuit against the physician.
Screening tests may have false positives. This means that certain patients with abnormal screening results will not have cancer. But doing screening tests for cancer is meaningless if there is no follow up as it gives the patient a false sense of security thinking that he has no cancer as the doctor tested him and said nothing to him that the tests demonstrated he might have cancer. Doctors generally concur that there is a need for follow up if the results of screening tests come back as abnormal.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting cancer related cases. To learn more about metastatic prostate cancer cases and request a free consultation with a cancer lawyer visit the website
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