When A Diagnosis Of Colon Cancer Metastasis Might Lead to A Malpractice Claim

by

J. Hernandez

Colon cancer is the second major source of deaths from cancer. Every year, about forty eight thousand individuals will pass away due to colon cancer. Many of these fatalities might be prevented with early detection and treatment through routine colon cancer screening in advance of when symtoms appear.

When the disease is found as a small polyp while undergoing a routine screening test, such as a colonoscopy, the polyp can usually be removed during the colonoscopy. At this point, there is no requirement for the surgical removal of any segment of the colon. If the polyp grows into a tumor and reaches Stage 1 or Stage 2, the tumor and a portion of the colon on each side is surgical removed. The relative 5-year survival rate is over 90% for Stage I and seventy three percent for Stage II.

If the cancer gets to a Stage III, a colon resection is no longer sufficient. The patient will, furthermore, need to have chemotherapy. The relative 5-year survival rate falls to fifty three percent, depending on such variables as how many lymph nodes that have cancer.

As soon as the colon cancer reaches Stage IV, treatment might necessitate chemotherapy and perhaps additional drugs and even surgery on other organs. In case the size and number of tumors in different organs (for example, the liver and lungs) are sufficiently few, surgery on these organs may be the initial treatment, followed by chemotherapy. In some cases the size or number of tumors in the different organs eliminates the option of surgery as part of the treatment.

If chemotherapy and additional drugs are able to reduce the number and size of these tumors, surgery may then become a viable follow up treatment. If not, chemotherapy and different drugs (possibly through clinical trials) may for a time halt or reduce the continued spread of the cancer. The relative 5-year survival rate falls to approximately 8%.

As the relative 5-year survival rates show, the time frame in which the cancer is detected and treated results in a dramatic difference. If detected and treated early, the individual has a high likelihood of surviving the cancer. When diagnosis and treatment is delayed, the chances start turning against the person so that if the cancer reaches the lymph nodes, the probability is nearly 50/50. Plus the chances decrease precipitously when the cancer metastasizes.

However, all too often physicians do not recommend standard cancer testing to their patients. When the cancer is eventually found – sometimes due to the fact that the tumor has grown so large that it is resulting in blockage, since the patient is losing blood internally and that condition is getting progressively worse, or because the patient starts to notice other symptoms – the cancer is a Stage 3 or even a Stage 4. The person now faces a much different outlook than if the cancer had been discovered early by routine screening.

Attorneys who handle cancer cases often classify this as a loss of chance of a better recovery. That is to say, since the doctor failed to recommend that the person have a routine screening test, the cancer is now considerably more advanced and the individual faces a much lower likelihood of outliving the cancer. The failure of a physician to advise the patient undergo screening options for colon cancer may constitute medical malpractice.

Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases and wrongful death cases. You can learn more about cases involving

coloncancer

and other cancer matters including

advanced prostate cancer

by visiting the website

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When A Diagnosis Of Colon Cancer Metastasis Might Lead to A Malpractice Claim}