Medical Malpractice Claim Filed By Patient Whose Doctor Did Not Complete Cancer Screening Tests

Prostate cancer affects African-American men differently from the rest of the population. Men of African-American descent are at higher risk of developing prostate cancer. As such, doctors generally recommend that African-American men should begin screening for prostate cancer earlier (the recommended age being 45) so as to increase the likelihood that if they do develop cancer it can be detected at an early stage while it is still curable. When physicians fail to follow the guidelines for cancer screening and their patient is later diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer that doctor may be liable for medical malpractice.

Beyond screening for cancer, physicians also should recognize when a patient has complaints suggestive of possible cancer and follow up. Physicians also should either perform screening testing requested by the patient or inform the patient that they will not perform the requested testing and that the patient should consult with another doctor if he still wants the test. Consider a reported case involving an African-American male, forty-one years of age, who was involved in an ad campaign for raising awareness about the risk of prostate cancer in middle-aged African-American men and who requested of his physician to screen him for prostate cancer.

Doctors generally recommend two tests for prostate cancer screening in male patients. The first test is to use a gloved finger to manually examine the prostate. The other is a simple blood test which is used to determine the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the male's system. As per the request of the patient, the doctor physically examined the patient's prostate gland. On physical examination, the physician did not detect any abnormalities with the prostate gland: the gland was not enlarged, it was not hardened, and there were no nodules present. Blood testing was then ordered by the physician. The tests, however, did not include a PSA test. The patient, given his request and the fact that the doctor had done a physical examination, assumed that a PSA test was also ordered. When he did not hear back regarding the results, the patient simply assumed the results were normal. The patient saw the same doctor two years later. This time the doctor neither performed a physical examination of the prostate gland nor did the doctor order a PSA test.

What this physician did was to give the patient a false sense of security. By performing the digital examination of the prostate gland and ordering blood tests the physician left the patient with the perception that a full screening had been completed. A patient would likely think that a PSA test was been ordered along with the rest of the blood tests from the second visit. Either way, however, a patient certainly would be justified in believing he had undergone a full screening.

Later that year the patient saw a different doctor in the same practice. This doctor performed a digital examination and order a PSA test. The patient was diagnosed with prostate cancer that had metastasized to the bone. This patient did not wish to wait until the age of forty-five which is when most African-American men are first screened for colon cancer. He wanted to do it earlier and the doctor's behavior lead him to be he had been properly screened as he requested.

The law firm that handled this matter took it to trial and achieved a $2,750,000 verdict. An appeal was filed by the defense. The defense and the plaintiff settled for a confidential amount as the appeals was pending. The exact amount of the settlement is not public knowledge but it was less than the amount of the verdict. This is a way by which both parties can reduce the risk of an adverse ruling by the Appeals Court. In this case the Appeals Court subsequently denied the appeal.