Prostate cancer and diagnostic challenges

A large number of men in New York will develop prostate cancer as they get older. Some of those men will not be diagnosed before the cancer has spread.

Many doctors rely on annual screening tests called PSAs to test men for prostate cancer. The PSA tests are not completely accurate and are known to fail to detect cancer that is present sometimes. A California entrepreneur has developed a new test to check for prostate cancer. Using his own test, he was able to detect the presence of prostate cancer in his own father after his father's PSA test had come back negative.

When prostate cancer is caught early, it is normally very treatable. There are aggressive forms of prostate cancer that can rapidly spread if they are not diagnosed and treated on time. One out of every seven men will develop prostate cancer. One issue is that the cancer may not show symptoms when it is in its early stages, and the PSA tests are known to provide false negative results.

A doctor's failure to diagnose cancer may leave the cancer to spread. This may make the patient's prognosis much more negative or even lead to early death. When a doctor has failed to diagnose cancer or another illness, harming a patient, the patient may want to talk with a personal injury lawyer who accepts medical malpractice cases. An attorney may help those who have been injured because of diagnostic failures to recover damages. This can help injured victims of medical malpractice by making them whole.