Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer
Do you want to learn more about what happens when there is a failure to diagnose prostate cancer? You’re in the right place. Watch the video below to learn more about the importance of timely digital rectal examinations and prostate ultrasounds.
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Failure to Diagnose Cancer – Can You Sue?
Video Transcript
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
0:40 Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer: Modern Testing
1:45 Prostate Cancer Treatment
2:51 Early Detection Is Key: Prostate Ultrasound and Digital Rectal Examinations
Prostate cancer is actually the most common cancer in men. Many men as they age are at risk for prostate cancer. The instance is generally, about one in ten men during their lifetime will suffer from prostate cancer. Prostate cancer can be a very indolent, slow-growing cancer, or it can be more aggressive.
0:40 Failure To Diagnose Prostate Cancer: Modern Testing
We fortunately now have nuclear studies and molecular studies that will let us know reasonably early if prostate cancer is present, whether it is an aggressive cancer or whether it’s more indolent, that is slow-growing. So the key with prostate cancer is,
- make the diagnosis more commonly than not now, that diagnosis is made on blood testing, the so-called PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen study. Although it can be still made on the old-fashioned digital rectal examination, a hard knot or very firm area, the prostate may be noted.
What follows is a prostate ultrasound. It is usually a biopsy. The pathologist looks at that study and makes a diagnosis. The treating physician then has to be informed of that diagnosis, and then timely take action on getting the patient treated.
1:45 Prostate Cancer Treatment
Now again, in the face of inlet disease or disease that’s less aggressive in an older man, the treatment may be no more than conservative follow-up. Could be medication, could be radiation therapy, while in younger men the treatment is more likely to be surgical by removing the prostate gland.
So just like in any other cancer, an early pickup is more likely to lead to a complete cure. In the case of younger men, through surgical management, in the case of men as they get older, either through radiotherapy or through hormone therapy, or chemotherapy. Particularly, if the disease has spread, you’re looking at generally non-surgical treatment, and once a patient develops metastatic prostate cancer, their life expectancy is seldom more than two years, and that’s not two years of a high quality of life. It’s usually two years of pain, chronic pain medications, and very little positive to say because these are patients who typically are in a lot of pain. They hurt, they require chronic narcotics, sometimes minimally invasive pain therapies.
2:51 Early Detection Is Key: Prostate Ultrasound and Digital Rectal Examinations
So again, like in so many cases, early detection is the key. Pick up the cancer, treat it, find out if it’s aggressive or non-aggressive, look at your patient, decide which niche he fits in, does he require aggressive treatment or less aggressive treatment, formulate a treatment plan, and then stick to the plan.
Again, timely diagnosis is really key.
Failure to diagnose cases is incredibly challenging. They are difficult to prove, and they are notoriously difficult to win. Many patients feel discouraged before they even speak to a law firm. To make matters worse, doctors often have a “circle the wagons” mentality toward their fellow physicians. They protect their own, sometimes even at the cost of a patient’s well-being. Proving that a doctor failed to diagnose a condition is a daunting undertaking, which is why you need an experienced, compassionate legal team on your side.
LawMD is that team. Our trial lawyers have won failure to diagnose cases for patients across the country. We are based in Washington, D.C., and serve clients across the United States; We practice in some of the country’s biggest health care hubs. And, because many of our attorneys are also medical professionals, we have the knowledge and experience to effectively champion your case from start to finish.