Patient: "Doctor, I notice blood in my stool when I go to the bathroom."

Doctor: "Don’t worry about it, you most likely merely have hemorrhoids."

Tragically, some time afterwards this patient learns that the bleeding was in fact the result of a cancerous tumor in the colon. He or she now has advanced colon cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes or even to a different organ, like the liver or the lungs. What legal choices does the patient have in these circumstances?

The first thing to note is that most doctors agree that when a person reports rectal bleeding or blood in the stool a colonoscopy ought to be done in order to establish the reason for the blood. The colonoscopy helps establish whether the blood is the result of colon cancer or something different like hemorrhoids. But only assuming that the blood is due to hemorrhoids risks not detecting a cancer.

Why is this such a critical error? To understand that let’s briefly consider how cancer kills. Colon cancer is projected to kill around 48,000 individuals this year. Colon cancer kills after it grows and progresses beyond the colon reaching the bloodstream by way of the lymph nodes and establishing itself in other organs such as the liver and the lungs. After the cancer gets to that point the individual's options for treatments are limited and the chances that he or she will outlive the cancer are significantly diminished. Treatments, which may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and other medications, may or may not work.

If at some point treatment no longer works, colon cancer is fatal. Yet it takes time for the cancer to reach that point. Colon cancer typically begins as a small group of cells. Over time these cells grow and make their way outside the colon where they then begin to spread and grow more.

It is therefore essential that the cancer be diagnosed early. Regrettably, all too often physicians merely suppose that blood in the stool or rectal bleeding is from hemorrhoids, despite various reports by the individual. Rather than sending the person to a a gastroenterologist or doing tests, for instance a colonoscopy, to rule out cancer, they inform the person that there is nothing to worry about.

In the event the individual did have cancer and it is not discovered until later, it might advance to a stage 3 or a stage 4 . At this point, it may be much more advanced than when the patient originally complained of rectal bleeding or blood in the stool. As a result, the patient now has a much lessened likelihood of survival. In such situations, the failure of a doctor to properly rule out cancer at the time of the patient’s complaints might amount to a departure from the accepted standard of medical care leading the patient to pursue a medical malpractice claim.