An elevated or quickly rising PSA could indicate that a man has prostate cancer . Doctors thus typically suggest that a patient with a high or rapidly rising PSA undergo a biopsy.
You will find, however, two main issues with a biopsy. First a biopsy checks just a percentage of the prostate. Therefore the a biopsy might yield a false negative and not catch the cancer. Second, biopsies pose dangers, like the possibility of infection and the risk of substantial bleeding.
Because of these 2 facts a number of doctors to advise that male patients with a high PSA pursue a program of “watchful waiting.” This is an approach by which the physician routinely monitors the man’s high PSA for months or even years. In this time certain physicians advise that the patient try non cancer related therapies, for instance, for infection, under the theory that if the PSA is elevatedhigh because of an underlying reason rather than prostate cancer such treatments may get the PSA back to normal levels.
What can go wrong with this approach? The physician might too much time pass prior to advising that the patient undergo a biopsy. The more time that passes while the PSA increases the chance grows that the rising levels result from prostate cancer, as does the likelihood that the cancer has progress outside of the prostate gland leading to a diagnosis of stage 4 prostate cancer.
In the event that a doctor, by advocating that the patient wait instead of immediately doing diagnostic testing, causes a situation in which the cancer propagate and gets to an advanced stage, a cancer lawyer can help you decide whether you have a medical malpractice case against that doctor.
When the cancer is not detected until the late stages, once it has grown beyond the prostate, there is at the present time no treatment that can eliminate the cancer. Therefore one needs to ask: How many of the men who will die this year from advanced prostate cancer could have survived if only their physician had tested them rather than holding off on recommending?
Comparable problems can occur from the delayed detection of breast cancer and colon cancer In all such cases the difficulty comes in when the delay ends up meaning that the individual is not diagnosed until the cancer is in the late (and possibly incurable) stages.
The above is only general information that is readily obtainable and is intended for basic educational uses only. The above is not medical advice. Talk to with a physician if you have any health related issues and before accepting any medical advice. In addition, the above is also not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer about any potential legal concerns.