Picture finding out that you have prostate cancer. That’s hard because "cancer" is a word that engenders dread. Still perhaps, you tell yourself, possibly it is not that bad. Possibly we diagnosed it before it metastasized and with the right treatment I’ll beat it.

But it gets worse. Imagine then discovering that is too late for that. The cancer has already metastasized to other areas of your body. A cure is thus no longer a possibility. Treatment will at most slow down the disease. And later, after that treatment no longer works, treatment that will lessen the pain from the ever growing cancer.

And then the news gets still worse. Imagine at this point discovering that your physician in whom you placed your faith to keep you healthy and to alert you of any possible health problems, had information that you were likely to develop prostate cancer. Think about discovering that your physician had this information for at least a year prior to when you learned you had cancer. And picture finding out that had your doctor had informed you when the data was first available your cancer could have been discovered while it was still contained within the prostate gland and could have been cured.

Do you think such a thing will never happen ? Then consider the following cases:

Case:

For a 3 year period an internist failed to notify his patient that the results of blood tests revealed that the patient’s PSA level was not only high it was also climbing. By the time the physician eventually told his patient about the test results the result was a diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer. The only options offered for treatment then were radiation therapy and hormone therapy - applied in an effort to slow the cancer’s growth and spread.

Case:

Not only did the doctor in this case not tell his patient his PSA level had been abnormal and rising, the doctor in fact stated to him that they were normal. The patient learned he had cancer of the prostate because he consulted with a urologist at the urging of a family member. The diagnosis - prostate cancer that had spread to the seminal vesicles.

Case:

A family doctor performed a physical examination of the patient's prostate and found that his prostate gland had a hardened region. The physician did not notify his patient. The physician did not refer the patient to a urologist . The physician also did not perform a biopsy to determine whether the hardened area was cancerous or benign. When the patient eventually discovered the cancer it had already metastasized to other parts of his body.

Case:

For 2 1/22 years a man's doctor withheld information that his PSA levels were elevated. When the individual was ultimately told he had prostate cancer he tried surgery in the hopes that the cancer was still confined to the prostate gland and that surgery could eliminate the cancer. He also underwent months of hormonal therapy. And then post-surgical PSA levels confirmed that the surgery did not eliminate the cancer and that it is still present in his body.

There were law firms that represented the patients and families in each of the cases discussed above. The law firms that handled these lawsuits documented being able to obtain compensation for the patients and their families in amounts that ranged from $400,000 to $1,500,000.

Cases like the above come up all too frequently. Whether the physicians fail to look at the results of the tests, whether they buy into the believe that there is no need to take action even though the PSA is elevated or a nodule of a certain size is detected in the prostate, or whether they simply do not understand the guidelines and the standard of care for the action that is appropriate when screening results are abnormal, these doctors cause a delay that results in the growth and spread of the cancer.

Some physicians do not think that there is any advantage to screening men for prostate cancer (or do not appreciate the guidelines) and either just do not screen their male patients or recommend against it. Other doctors do not review the results of screening tests. Yet other doctors fail to follow up on an abnormal screening test result and not order a biopsy or refer the patient to a specialist. The result is often tragic: an avoidable death that becomes unavoidable.

What if you were the patient who received that news. You fight the cancer as hard and as long as you can. What if you were his spouse? What if you were his child? What if the patient was your son?

Perhaps you would decide to bring a case for medical malpractice to protect your family’s future. And you hope that if forced to confront the mistake and to pay a cost for it, maybe, just maybe, the doctor will adjust how he or she treats other patients afterward so that this tragedy will never arise again.