A delay in diagnosis of prostate cancer can mean the difference between life and death. For a real world example of how this works, look to the case of Warren Buffet, the third richest man in the world. Buffett was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer during a routine PSA screening test. But the news wasn’t all bad. Because his cancer was detected in an early stage, he has a greater than 95% chance of cure.
A common type of medical malpractice case in Ohio arises out of delayed diagnosis of cancer. Most cancers, like prostate cancer, progress from an early, treatable stage to an advanced, incurable stage if left untreated. Therefore, any sizable delay in diagnosis may warrant a lawsuit. When a patient’s prostate cancer is unnecessarily allowed to go from stage 1 to stage 4, the chance of survival plummets from >95% to <5% due to the delay in treatment.
Buffett’s case proves that early detection saves lives. Delays in diagnosis of prostate cancer occur for many reasons, including failure to screen, misread test results and neglect of positive test results.
