Colon cancers sometimes bleed. Under some circumstances, the blood might be visible in the stool. In cases where the cancer is near the rectum, the blood might even appear as bright red. Even though the blood is not visible, it may yet be possible to find out that the person is bleeding in other ways. For example, the loss of blood may manifest as anemia. Blood tests might reveal internal blood loss that might be due to cancer in the colon. Important blood test results to evaluate include the hemoglobin, hematocrit, and Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) levels. Levels below the normal range may indicate blood loss and iron deficiency anemia. Any time a person presents with levels that are low for these tests physicians commonly recognize that there should be follow up to discover the explanation for the blood loss, like the chance of cancer of the colon.
Consider the matter of a 64 year old male patient whose blood tests exhibited all of the above. The following year, the patient’s blood work showed a deterioration of the individual's problem. Furthermore, a guaiac test found that there was blood in the patient's stool. Yet, doing no other testing or referring the patient to a gastroenterologist the man’s physician inserted a diagnosis of hemorrhoids into the patient's chart. In addition, the individual's PSA level (a test that is used to screen males for prostate cancer) was a 10.3 (anything above a 4.0 is often viewed as high and troubling for prostate cancer). The doctor made no entry in the person's record to indicate an having examined the prostate gland. The physician failed to inform the patient about the high PSA levels and did not refer the person to a specialist.
Approximately 2 years after the individual went to a different physician. Due to the patient's age this doctor had him undergo a barium enema. The result: a diagnosis of advanced colon cancer. The individual died of the spread of the cancer less than three years following his diagnosis. The patient's family pursued a case against the physician who overlooked the patient’s abnormally low blood test results and overlooked the existence of blood in the man’s stool. The law firm that represented the family was able to report that it settled for $1.25 million.
Blood tests are done for a reason. Abnormal test results are indicators that there may be something wrong, perhaps dangerously wrong with the individual and call for follow up. Sometimes follow up includes repeating the blood test within a short amount of time to determine whether the levels improve. However, if the levels deviate enough from normal levels or keep getting worse, physicians usually agree that this increases the need to order appropriate other tests to find out the explanation for those levels. Doctors also commonly consent that blood in the stool of an adult person requires fast attention to eliminate the possibility of colon cancer as the cause. A colonoscopy is most frequently ordered to examine the entire colon and either find or exclude the presence of any tumors. This physician failed to dor any of this.
Despite the fact that the majority of lawsuits that settle do so with no admission of liability by defendants it makes sense that the law firm that worked on this matter was able to report such a significant settlement.
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