Many people have had the experience of consulting more than one doctor regarding a medical problem merely to discover that the doctors consulted have different opinions and different recommendations. When a an incorrect diagnosis may literally mean the difference between life and death this can result in a serious problem for the patient. People likely think that the doctor will communicate with them in the event that there are any adverse results from testing ordered by the doctor. Generally, when people do not receive a follow up communication from a physician many take that as an indication that everything is fine and that there is no need for them to follow up with the physician. Consequently once a doctor has information or reaches a judgments that the patient needs immediate follow up or treatment it is critical for that doctor to inform the patient and possibly also at least the patient's primary care physician.
Consider the following reported lawsuit. Several physicians had a chance to diagnose the male patient's prostate cancer while it was still in its early stages. A male patient went to his family physician complaining of urinary problems. He was fifty-six at the time. The general practitioner concluded that the issues were not associated with cancer even though no testing was done to rule out cancer.
The patient, on his own, went to a urologist ten months later. The urologist carried out a physical examination of the prostate and ordered a PSA blood test. The patient then learned that his insurance carrier did not have the urologist in its list of approved physicians and he went to a different urologist who was approved.
While the blood test results came in neither the results of the test nor the first urologist's suspicion of cancer and advice that a biopsy be conducted were passed on to the individual's primary care physician or to his second urologist. The second urologist concluded that there were no abnormalities present with the prostate and that there was no indication of cancer.
Consequently the cancer went undiagnosed for two years at which time it had spread outside the prostate. The doctors treating the patient's cancer came to the conclusion that he likely had only 1 to 5 years to live due to the cancer's spread. The law firm that handled this case revealed that they were able to achieve a settlement during jury selection at trial for $2.5 million on behalf of the patient.
This lawsuit thus demonstrates two key types of failures. There was the failure on the part of the general practitioner and the second urologist to not follow the proper screening guidelines. The other error was one in communication. This occurred when there was a miscommunication of the findings, suspicions, and advice of the urologist who was not approved by the insurance company and the other physicians. While there is no way to know if the general practitioner or the second urologist would have followed up on results of the PSA test from the first urologist or on that urologist's suspicion and recommendation they at least would have had information and perspective they were missing.
Author Resource:-
Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney focused on catastrophic injury and medical malpractice cases. To learn more about metastatic prostate cancer cases and prostate cancer bone visit the website
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