Monitoring for Signs and Symptoms of Colon Cancer

Colon cancer starts in the large intestine, which is part of the digestive tract. It usually develops in older adults. The first sign that cancer is developing may be benign polyps on the inside of the colon; however, there may be no symptoms initially. In order to stop the spread and growth of colon cancer, doctors recommend that regular monitoring for signs and symptoms of colon cancer. If your doctor failed to regularly check for colon cancer and you were harmed as a result, you should discuss your case with the Syracuse medical malpractice attorneys of DeFrancisco and Falgiatano. We understand the complexities of medical malpractice lawsuits and how important the outcome of such lawsuits is to you and your family.

Colon cancer symptoms may not appear or may be very minor when the disease is just starting out. Sometimes, patients will not experience any symptoms until after the disease has already progressed. For that reason, persons over 50 should undergo colonoscopy or other screening on regular basis. If you are at high-risk or have a family history of colon cancer, your doctor may order regular screening while you are under 50. Symptoms of colon cancer can include dramatic weight loss, narrow stools, rectal bleeding, persistent abdominal pain, and tenesmus. Colon cancer may affect your entire body and cause vomiting, weakness, nausea, and jaundice, as well as fatigue.

Preventive monitoring for signs and symptoms of colon cancer allows for early diagnosis and intervention. If your doctor failed to monitor for colon cancer, you have a limited window within which to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit. The statute of limitations for a medical malpractice lawsuit is 2 1/2 years. The statute of limitations in a cancer malpractice lawsuit starts to run when you know or reasonably should have known of your provider’s negligent failure to diagnose cancer or malignant tumor, and knew or reasonably should have known that this negligent act or omission is what produced your injuries. However, if the date is later, the statute of limitations could begin to run on the date of the last treatment where there is continuous treatment for the same colon cancer that gave rise to the action first place. The lawsuit cannot commence any later than seven years from the act or omission being complained about for the last treatment for the colon cancer. You will naturally be focused on seeking treatment options upon the diagnosis of colon cancer. However, consulting with a lawyer early on can protect your legal rights and avoid claims being barred due to the statute of limitations.

In order to establish your entitlement to damages, you'll need to prove it's more likely than not the defendant owed you a professional standard of care, failed to meet that standard, and in so failing, caused your injuries. New York follows the locality rule. Your doctor, oncologist or other healthcare provider will be held to the same professional standards that govern other reasonably prudent providers in the same specialty in Syracuse when faced with similar signs and symptoms of colon cancer as yours.

A doctor may breach his duty to use the professional standard of care if he fails to monitor certain patients for signs and symptoms of colon cancer. The duty may arise as a result of taking a patient history and discovering the patient has a family history of colon cancer. However, it could also arise because the patient comes in complaining of colon cancer symptoms, such as blood in the stool or difficulty in completely emptying the bowels. The physician may have to conduct a differential diagnosis to arrive at a correct diagnosis. A doctor may fail to meet the professional standard of care by not listing colon cancer as a possible diagnosis or failing to adequately test for colon cancer once its listed.

Once the physician has diagnosed the patient with colon cancer, treatment should commence right away. Delay in treatment could result in progression of the illness, and the need for more painful and expensive treatments to be administered down the road.

You may be able to recover compensatory damages once liability is established for failure to monitor signs and symptoms of colon cancer. The extent of injury will determine the amount and type of damages. Generally, you can recover both economic and noneconomic losses arising out of your provider’s failure. These losses not only include past losses, but also reasonably certain future losses arising from the colon cancer. A doctor’s failure to monitor for signs and symptoms of colon cancer could also result in a loved one’s death. While nothing can make up for the loss of your loved one, a wrongful death lawsuit may allow you to recover the pecuniary losses resulting from his death.

If you were harmed or a loved one died due to a doctor’s failure to monitor signs and symptoms of colon cancer, you should discuss your losses with us. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano, our lawyers represent people throughout Upstate New York in Syracuse, Rochester, Watertown, Lowville, Oswego, Auburn, Canandaigua, Wampsville, Ithaca, Lyons, Oneida, Cooperstown, Utica, Elmira, Herkimer, and Binghamton. Complete DeFrancisco & Falgiatano’s online form or call us at 833-200-2000.