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Ways A Doctor Might Be To Blame For Delay In Diagnosing Prostate Cancer Until It Spreads
Some doctors argue that prostate cancer screening, particularly PSA testing, has little or no worth. These doctors take the position that screening has little, if any, value. If of a screening test is abnormal the individual needs to be informed of the results and either be referred to a specialist or be told about the option for diagnostic testing, for example a biopsy. Again, though, a number of doctors also believe that, at least under certain circumstances, a man diagnosed with prostate cancer does not have to undergo treatment immediately and simply needs to carefully monitor the cancer. If the physician fails to 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. However, if a physician noted that the patient’s prostate was enlarged or there was a nodule on the gland and the PSA test results indicated high levels of the antigen and the doctor failed to inform the man about the abnormal results, the individual would probably think that meant the results were all normal. In case the man does really have cancer, not telling the patient that he might have cancer will lead to a delay in his diagnosis. A delay might, in turn, give the cancer time to spread. Once a cancer metastasizes treatment can at best slow down the progression of the cancer and decrease the effects (like pain) of the cancer. There are lawsuits that allege a doctor did screen a male and the test results were abnormal but the physician did not tell the patient and did not recommend further testing or to refer the man to a specialist. Screening tests might have false positives. This means that some patients with abnormal screening results will not have cancer. But performing screening tests for cancer is meaningless if there is no follow up as it provides the patient an incorrect sense of security thinking that he has no cancer as the doctor screened him and did not inform him that the tests showed the possibility of cancer. Physicians commonly concur the need for follow up when the results of screening tests come back as abnormal. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting cancer malpractice cases. To learn about prostate cancer and other cancer matters including stage 4 breast cancer visit the websites |
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