Posts Tagged ‘physicians’

Vocal Physicians Group Renews Health Law Fight

Vocal Physicians Group Renews Health Law Fight
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons has been vocal in the country’s health care debate, and other groups assert that its positions are outside the mainstream.

Read more on The Tuscaloosa News

Man Discovers He Has Advanced Prostate Cancer Following Years Of Physicians Not Doing A Follow Up Biopsy

Prostate cancer is a dreadful disease. Although not 100% accurate there are diagnostic tests that help doctors to verify if the cancer is present in a patient. Still as a consequence of the chance of false negatives (a negative test result despite the fact that the patient in reality has cancer) physicians should follow up and repeat tests as appropriate when patient complaints and screening tests keep showing the possibility of cancer. The failure to do so may reslt in a malpractice claim.

In one published claim a patient communcated to his primary care doctor that he was suffering from urinary frequency and burning. The doctor began the man on antibiotics and refered the man to a urologist. The urologist conducted a cystoscopy which showed that the man had an enlarged prostate. The urologist additionally ordered a PSA blood test which registered a 16.3 (a level higher than a 4.0 is ordinarily accepted as abnormal). Consequently the urologist performed a biopsy 2 months later. The biopsy was interpreted by a pathologist as benign.

The next year the patient returned to the urologist. On this occasion the PSA blood test was a 2.9 (ordinarily accepted as in normal range). The urologist concluded that the individual had BPH (a benign enlargement of the prostate). After 3 months the individual consulted the PCP for fever and nocturia (needing to urinate during the night). The doctor put him on another round of antibiotics. A follow up urine culture showed up negative. The PCP hence referred the individual back to the urologist. The urologist did a PSA test which came back a 6.4 (again, high).

A biopsy analyzes portions of the prostate. Thereby, it is possible for a biopsy to not catch the cancer. But, the urologist decided to depend on the prior year’s biopsy and to not perform another one as a follow up. Rather, the urologist failed to follow up on the man’s complaints and elevated PSA. The next year the patient went back to his family doctor. His symptoms continued to include nocturia. On physical examination the physician noted that the patient had a markedly enlarged prostate. Yet, the physician failed to order a PSA or re-refer him to a urologist. Regular blood testing four months subsequently showed that the man’s PSA was at 7.4 Neither doctor followed up in any way.

One more year goes by at which time the family doctor recorded that the PSA level was 9.8 Once more, no follow up or referral to a urologist. Yet another year and the individual continues to have problems with nocturia. On this occasion the PSA was 9.7 No follow up and no referral. Five years after the man’s earliest claims of urinary problems the family doctor again documented a considerably enlarged prostate gland and a PSA that had reached a 31. The doctor at last refered the individual back to the urologist.

The urologist verified that the patient’s prostate was enlarged and started the man a 2 week regimen of antibiotics to be followed by another PSA test. Once the PSA test was repeated 2 weeks afterwards it recorded a 33. A biopsy was then at last done which revealed cancer every sample taken.

Testing subsequently uncovered that the man had prostate cancer which had spread to the lymph nodes, the liver and bone. Notwithstanding a course of both hormone therapy and radiation therapy the man died around eighteen months following his diagnosis. The law firm that represented his family published that a settlement for $1,000,000 was reached in the case.

When Physicians Fail To Follow Up After PSA Results Indicate The Chance Of Prostate Cancer

Men often possess a lack of awareness of prostate cancer, their own risk for the cancer, and how to determine whether they have prostate cancer. Most male patients do not even know what it means to test for prostate cancer or that screening should be done before they develop symptoms. Yet, far too often, doctors diagnose the cancer only after it is past the early stages on account of deficient of screening.

There are several different factors that might result in a delayed diagnosis. This article will analyze the following pattern: the doctor (1) orders a PSA blood test, (2) discovers that the individual has an elevated PSA level, but (3) neither informs him of abnormal results (and what they indicate) nor orders diagnostic tests, like a biopsy, to rule out prostate cancer. Examine the following lawsuit, for instance:

In this reported case a male patient discovered he had prostate cancer after he followed up when told by his internist that he most likely had cancer. The problem in this case was that the internist did not tell the patient that he might have cancer until the third year of elevated PSA test results. The year before the man’s PSA level had increased to 13.6. Two years prior to that it had been at 8.0 Throughout these years the physician took no action to rule out prostate cancer as the cause of these high readings and did not tell the patient. By the time he was diagnosed he had metastatic prostate cancer and surgery was no longer among the treatment alternatives. Treating doctors instead recommended radiation therapy and hormone therapy. Neither of these would eliminate the cancer but they might impede the cancer’s progress and further spread. The law firm that handled this matter reported that they took the case to mediation where they achieved a settlement of $600,000.

When they do not do anything in the presence of abnormal test results and the man subsequently learns that he had prostate cancer and that the delay lead to it growing outside the prostate therefore limiting treatment alternatives and lessening his likelihood of surviving the cancer, he might have a claim for medical malpractice against the doctor.

This case illustrates a type of mistake that can lead to the delayed diagnosis of a patient’s prostate cancer. It comes about when the doctor actually follows the guidelines and screens male patients for prostate cancer but does not follow through when the test results are abnormal.

Hospital raising money, teaching physicians and community

Hospital raising money, teaching physicians and community
EDINBURG — Doctors Hospital at Renaissance sold close to $19,000 last week at its first Masquerade Fundraising jewelry sale, but only about $4,000 will benefit the hospital’s cancer foundation.

Read more on The Brownsville Herald

Physicians use MRI to Detect Early Breast Cancer

www.uchospitals.edu Thanks to expert University of Chicago physicians and advanced MRI imaging techniques, Debbie Bricker’s breast cancer was detected at an early stage and treated successfully. Video transcript: Bricker: I was told, at another institution, that I had a normal reading–no sign of cancer. Debbie Bricker chose the University of Chicago Hospitals when she learned of our advanced breast cancer detection using new MRI technology. Bricker: I had the MRI, and I was diagnosed with early breast cancer. Our doctors use a unique team approach that helps them develop an individualized treatment plan for each patient. Dr. Newstead: We develop new techniques and protocols and make them available sooner than would be the case in a standard hospital. We are leading the way in cancer research and treatment options including new, cancer-fighting drugs not generally available elsewhere. Bricker: They could identify early breast cancer in me and treat it so quickly, when it hadn’t even been diagnosed anywhere else before. Only one hospitals cancer care has ranked highest in Illinois for 10 years in a row. Bricker: Compassion, the conferencing approach, and the speed with which we could eliminate my breast cancer were really unique experiences–really wonderful.