Male patients tend to possess a lack of awareness of prostate cancer, their own chances for the cancer, and the ways in which they can figure out if they have it. Many men have modest, if any, knowledge of the advantage of testing for cancer or of the recommendations for when they should start screening, how frequently to screen, and how to interpret the test results. They put their confidence in their physician to do everything appropriate to find any cancer early and cure them.
There are several different factors that may result in a delayed diagnosis. This article will examine the following pattern: the physician (1) actually screens the patient by following the amount of PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) in his bloodstream, (2) learns that the patient has a high PSA level, yet (3) neither informs the patient about the abnormal results (and what they mean) nor orders diagnostic tests, for instance a biopsy, to exclude cancer. The claim below illustrates this problem.
In this reported case a male patient found out he had prostate cancer after he followed up when informed by his internist that he most likely had cancer. The problem in this case was that the physician did not tell the patient that he might have cancer until the third year of raised test results. The year before the man's level had increased to 13.6. Two years prior to that it had been at 8.0 Throughout these years the physician took no action to rule out cancer as the source of these high readings and did not inform the patient.
By the time he was diagnosed he had metastatic prostate cancer and surgery was no longer one of the treatment options. Rather the patient underwent radiation therapy and hormone therapy in an effort to impede the further progression of the cancer. The law firm that handled this matter reported that they took the case to mediation where they were able to obtain a settlement of $600,000.
But not following up after observing abnormal test results creates a situation in which those patients who do in fact have prostate cancer may not learn they have it until it has spread beyond the prostate, decreasing the patient's options for treatment, and considerably lessening the likelihood that the patient will be able to survive the cancer.
At a minimum a physician who notes abnormal screening results ought to inform the patient of the chance that he may have cancer and refer the patient to a urologist. The doctor can in addition recommend diagnostic testing, for instance a biopsy in order to find out whether the abnormal screening test results are from prostate cancer.
As the above claim illustrates physicians sometimes comply with the guidelines by performing screening for prostate cancer yet if the test results are abnormal they do not follow through.
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