Claim Follows After Woman Dies Whose Physicians Failed To Test Her According To The Screening Guidel

The need for screening even asymptomatic men and women for colon cancer when they are 50 or older and for testing individuals who display certain symptoms such as blood in the stool is generally established within the medical community. Not doing so may end up in a holdup in the detection of colon cancer which in turn may allow the cancer to spread. Below we analyze a case regarding a woman in her fifties whose physicians not only failed to screen her during the years she did not have any symptoms they also did not test her even after she started having significant symptoms.

Consider a lawsuit that arose from the following situation: a female saw her family doctor from when she was 50 years old to the time she was 55. During that time her doctor saw her for obesity, a hernia and hypertension. At no time however did her physician ever even suggest that she get screening for colon cancer.

She began having various symptoms : diarrhea, vomiting and blood in her stools after she turned fifty five. At the emergency room the attending doctor diagnosed her with gastroenteritis. She followed up with her physician a few days afterward who recorded a note of the fact that she now had up to three bowel movements per day all of which contained a blood. This doctor recommended a wait-and-see strategy and thought that she would need a lower G.I. endoscopy if her condition did not go up. The doctor's differential diagnosis was for colitis. The physician apparently never considered cancer as part of the differential diagnoses. A year later she again saw this doctor complaining of abdominal issues and more than fifty pounds of unexplained weight loss. The physician decided that her weight-loss was caused by a change in her diet and regardless that she had a background of blood in her stools that doctor again failed to order or perform any tests to eliminate colon cancer as the cause.

A month later the woman once more ended up at the hospital because of of abdominal pain and persistent diarrhea and by now there would be blood every time she vomited. Her stool was now a dark brown color and testing revealed blood present in the stool. The doctor at the ER diagnosed her as having a gastrointestinal bleeding. The ER doctor ordered an x-ray which revealed a partial blockage of the bowel. At this point she was admitted to the hospital. Additional testing followed. Blood tests then uncovered that her CEA, a marker for colon cancer, was elevated.

Initially a gastroenterologist did an upper G.I. endoscopy and took several biopsies. This gastroenterologist also failed to perform a colonoscopy. It was not until a covering physician at the hospital considered that her history indicated the possibility of cancer and that more testing was needed that a sigmoidoscopy was ultimately done approximately two weeks subsequently. The sigmoidoscopy showed a large obstruction and a follow-up CAT scan revealed a large tumor. When she underwent surgery it was discovered that her cancer had already spread to both her uterus and to her bladder. In addition the pathology report found cancer in 13 lymph nodes. The diagnosis - stage IV colon cancer.

She commenced a chemotherapy protocol but after suffering from intolerance for the chemotherapy as well as bowel obstructions and even renal failure, the woman lost her battle with the cancer within a year after being diagnosed. She was only 58 years old. She was married and had two children both of whom were adults. Her husband and children pursued a lawsuit against the doctors for the delay in the detection of her cancer. The law firm that represented the family in this case documented that they were able to obtain a settlement in the lawsuit for just under one million dollars on behalf of the family.

Learn more about medical malpractice claims dealing with a misdiagnosis of colon cancer symptoms and other cancer matters including misdiagnosed prostate cancer symptoms by visiting the websites