Being told one has colon cancer tends to bring up worry in nearly all of people. It can hence feel very reassuring to hear your physician say that you just have hemorrhoids. That there is no need to worry about the blood in your stool. But this reassurance should only come after the physician has ruled out the likelihood of colon cancer (and other potentially dangerous gastrointestinal problems). Otherwise, you may not learn that you have colon cancer until it is too late. If a physician automatically assumes that claims of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding by a patient are from hemorrhoids and it eventually is discovered that the patient had colon cancer all along, that doctor may not have met the standard of care and the patient may have a legal claim against that doctor.

It is projected that there are currently more than 10 million men and women with hemorrhoids and another 1,000,000 new incidents of hemorrhoids will probably occur this year as opposed to a little more than the 100 thousand new instances of colon cancer that will be detected this year. Further, not all colon cancers bleed. In the event that they do, the bleeding might be intermittent. Also depending on where the cancer is in the colon, the blood might not even be visible in the stool. Possibly it is simply because of the difference in the quantity of cases being identified that some physicians merely assume that the presence of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is from hemorrhoids. This is gambling, pure and simple. A physician who reaches this conclusion will be correct greater than ninety percent of the time. It sounds realistic, doesn’t it? The problem, however, is that if the physician is incorrect in this diagnosis, the patient may not find out he or she has colon cancer until it has reached a late stage, possibly even to where treatment is no longer effective.

In the event colon cancer is discovered while still contained within the colon, the patient’s five year survival rate will normally be over 80%. The five year survival rate is a statistical guage of the percentage of people who are still alive at least five years after diagnosis. Treatment protocols for early stage colon cancer normally requires just surgery so as to take out the cancerous growth and adjacent portions of the colon. Depending on variables like the stage of the cancer and the individual's medical history (including family medical history), how old the person is, and the patient's physical condition, chemotherapy may or may not be required.

For this reason physicians typically recommend that a colonoscopy ought to be done immediately if someone has blood in the stool or rectal bleeding. A colonoscopy is a method whereby a flexible tube with a camera on the end is employed to visualize the inside of the colon. If growths (polyps or tumors) are found, they can be extracted (if sufficiently small) or sampled and examined for the existence of cancer (by biopsy). Only if no cancer is discovered during the colonoscopy can colon cancer be ruled out as a source of the blood.

But, if the cancer is diagnosed after it has spread beyond the colon into the lymph nodes, the individual's five year survival rate will normally be roughly 53%. Aside from surgery to take out the tumor and surrounding areas of the colon treatment for this stage of colon cancer calls for chemotherapy in an effort to eliminate any cancer that might remain in the body. When the cancer spreads to distant organs like the liver, lungs, or brain, the patient’s 5 year survival rate is cut down to approximately eight percent. If treatment options exist for a patient at this stage, they might include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications. Treatment might no longer be helpful once the cancer is this advanced. When treatment stops being helpful, colon cancer is fatal. This year, approximately 48,000 people will pass away in the U.S. from advanced colon cancer.

By diagnosing complaints of blood in the stool or rectal bleeding as resulting from hemorrhoids without conducting the right tests to rule out colon cancer, a doctor puts the patient at risk of not finding out he or she has colon cancer before it reaches an advanced, possibly no longer treatable, stage. This may constitute a departure from the accepted standard of medical care and may end in a malpractice claim.

If you or a a member of your family were assured by a physician that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding were because of nothing more than hemorrhoids, and were subsequently diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer, you need to speak to a lawyer without delay. This article is for basic educational purposes only and is not intended to be legal (or medical) advice. If you have any medical issues you should consult with a doctor. You should not act, or refrain from acting, based upon any information in this article but ought to rather seek professional legal counsel. A competent lawyer with experience in medical malpractice may be able to help you determine should you have a claim for a delay in the diagnosis of the colon cancer. Do not wait to consult with an attorney are there is a time limit in lawsuits like these.