A colonoscopy is an examination of the inside of the colon, part of the digestive system, through the use of a fiber optic camera. The thin, wire-like camera is inserted with a larger tube into the body. The colonoscopy is used to diagnose a number of medical problems including cancer.
What can happen if a doctor fails to perform a colonoscopy? In a recent medical malpractice case, a patient brought suit because a doctor failed to perform a colonoscopy on him. The patient, a young man, suffered from rectal bleeding, a warning sign of colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is a serious disease that is treatable if caught in time. In this case, there was a one-year delay in diagnosis of the cancer, resulting in the advancement of the disease and a grim prognosis for the patient.
The medical community preaches that early detection is the best defense in the fight against cancer. It is important that we, as patients, make the medical community do all that it can to achieve early detection of malignancies.
Initially, the 28 year-old cancer victim went to his doctors complaining of weakness and fatigue. Blood tests revealed that he suffered from severe anemia, requiring admission to the hospital for blood transfusions. During the hospitalization, a gastroenterologist used a scope, in a procedure known as an upper endoscopy, to examine the inside of his stomach. The physician found an ulcer, and treated it with medication. Ulcers can be a source of bleeding and blood loss.Follow up appointments with doctors were made. Despite taking the ulcer medication prescribed, the patient continued to suffer severe anemia. The lack of improvement should have caused doctors to consider that the stomach ulcer was not the source of the anemia and bleeding. Other explanations had to be ruled out, and further tests needed to be ordered. These extra steps were not taken, even when the patient reported bloody stools, a serious and clear indication of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract.
Notwithstanding these ominous signs, the doctors did not alter their course until deciding to perform a colonoscopy, one year after the patient’s initial visit. A biopsy of tissue taken during the colonoscopy diagnosed an aggressive form of colorectal cancer.
The case was taken to trial. The doctors’ attorneys argued that even had they diagnosed the cancer earlier, the patient would have had the same prognosis and required the same treatment. They also blamed the patient for part of the delay in diagnosis because, they argued, he missed two clinic appointments. Ultimately, the defendants capitulated, settling the case right before jury selection began.
The important lesson to take from this case is to not be afraid of getting a second or third opinion, especially when the treatment prescribed to you is not providing relief over an extended period of time.
Contributor: Robert Sullivan, New York City medical malpractice lawyer
