misdiagnosis what would you do?

[skatts]

First off thanks to all of you and my prayers are with you, as I know the emotional roller coaster this is. Well on Thur Jan 8th my 15 year old son was diagnosed with TC. The Dr. told us he was 99% sure it was TC after the ultrasound. That afternoon he had chest Xrays, bloodwork, and ct scans. and had the orchiectomy (hope its spelled right?) on Mon the 12th. before the surgery the Dr. said his xrays and CT scan were clear but he did not have the bloodwork back yet. After his surgery my son noticed that they forgot to put in the prosthetic. Yes forgot, that was all the Dr. could say. We had decided that it would be done at the time of surgery so that he wouldn’t have to be put to sleep again. Well now from the results we were told that is was not cancer. Thank God we are very thankful for that. But my son is upset that he has had to go through all of this for nothing and that he still has to have another surgery. My son is asking me if he can take any legal action for this because of all he has went through and still has to go through with having surgery.
What would you do???????

[Aegean]

First and foremost a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS that it is not cancer and that you can get back to normal soon.

In my case the doc told me there was a slim 1% chance that I did not have cancer but not to count on it. So I prayed for it but alas it was my Dark Passenger and hopefully the I/O booted him forever more. That being said, I do not believe that I would have been angry at all if it turned out not to be cancer and I had gone through the I/O "for nothing". I would have celebrated.

That's just me and I am 39 with 3 kids and not planning on others, nor is my wife planning on allowing me any girlfriends . If I were 15, my take on it may be a bit different but at the end of the day you are healthy and alive and just starting your life at 15, so sue them for having missed the "replacement" teste, but personally I would be very happy with the outcome.

Now from a more legal point-of-view, if the Doc took reasonable steps to diagnose your son and had convincing evidence that the diagnosis was TC and also had/has reasonable experience on the subject matter, I think you'll just be making money for your attorney. It all comes down to how reasonable were his actions based on the evidence and his experience. Now, if this is a repeat performance for the Doc and he does misdiagnosed I/O's regularly, then you are facing another situation, but you do have to prove it.

Whatever you choose to do, just celebrate that your son is healthy and cancer-free and will live a long life and hopefully never have to take out a membership on this site.

Cheers,

Zsolt

[buster]

Hello

I think you and your family including your son need to be very thankful for the great news. On the front of fileing a lawsuite, I would be very careful as doctors make mistakes to, he could have told you it was nothing and went on with his day. I think he took the matter seriously and truley felt he was saving your sons life, testicular tumors are very rarely benigne, and if I were in your sons shoes i would be thankful for his circumstances. Im not at all saying your on the wrong path, but do believe take your time and proceed very cautiously, and remember he did not make a mistake he took action and you were givin very good news. Take care.

[TheTippingPoint]

Hi Skatts,

As others have said, your son is part of the small minority with a benign testicular tumor. There is very little a urologist can do to "check" a testicular tumor without running the risk of spreading the disease. The I/O is standard practice. I do hate that the implant was left out (from what I understand, the option for an implant is a pretty new practice in the US... it was not an option for my partner in 2005), but the remaining testicle compensates for the missing one and your son is almost certain to have the same function and fertility.

I know nothing of the legal intricacies surrounding malpractice lawsuits, but it seems the urologist acted according to standard protocol with the I/O. Thank goodness it was benign.

[Already Bald]

What would you do???????

I would rejoice that you son is cancer free, and does not have to deal with a lifetime of stress and anxiety of surveillance and future recurrance.

I would send your doctor flowers and chocolates rather than a lawsuit.

Still, I would recommend a second opinion on the pathology at a center of excellence.

Finally, I would recommend that you both join a LiveSTRONG Team, and join the international fight against cancer.

[ukboyuk]

The only mistake your doc made is in forgetting to put the prosthesis in.

If the ultrasound detects a suspect mass, the true figure is closer to 95% I recall reading somewhere, rather than 99%. I suspect he was trying to emphasise how important it is to take the testicle out.

If my testis had tested negative for cancer I'd be thanking the lord (and I don't even believe in god!).

As for forgetting the prosthesis, mistakes happen. Some consolation is that you are more likely to get a better placement result if you have two separate operations like this.

I really don't think you should sue your doctor, I think thats crazy. I know that there is a huge litigation culture in America but this, as we would say in the UK, this "takes the biscuit"!

I could understand if someone wanted to sue a doctor who failed to diagnose a cancer that was there the whole time, but this is different.

[Smartie]

My own response would be to celebrate the fact that he has no cancer - trust me, this is a much better situation for him than the alternative. Testicular cancer can never be confirmed 100% until after the I/O. He's just lucky.

[Fish]

I think the orchiectomy was necessary - unfortunately ~95% of testicualr masses are cancer. Forgetting the prosthetic was just plain dumb, but many guy have had significant problems with prosthetics and your son might want to talk to some guys who have one before he goes through another surgery - i'm 2x TC, have no prosthetics and don't miss them.

I also agree with a second opinion on the pathology- better to be sure.

I'm very happy things are looking so good for your son.

[dadmo]

Removing the testicle was the right thing to do. I have to agree with the others about getting a second opinion on the pathology.

[Aegletes]

As a patient with prosthetics and who has gone through surgery "down there" more than a couple of times, I have to agree with everyone's responses. Subsequent surgery to install a prosthesis would be very short and, like Chris mentioned, quite likely to produce a superior result. What matters most is dealing with the diagnosis and getting a second read on the slides. The prosthesis, while important, is something that can always be dealt with later.

[ATLfuzzy]

Could you / he feel a lump or mass before this surgery? If so, that combined with "lump on ultrasound" is reason to remove. Sorry if I missed that part....

I'm scratching my head on the bloodwork labs part "not back yet" part. That would be a fairly diagnostic piece of information.

The forgetting to implant is another story altogether...............

Very thankful it's not cancer!!!

[mattyk1985]

I wouldn't think about suing if it was me.

If I was given the same news your son has I would be estactic and probably would be thanking the doctors for their swift movements.

I recon a lot of people on here would love to be in that position.

[mahalomom]

Skatts,

My son was misdiagnosed by 5 docs - but he did have TC. Thank God your son's doctor acted swiftly. Often times misdiagnosis can mean that the patient is in a more advanced stage and actually puts their life in danger. Although TC is highly curable, not everyone gets cured. I think this is a great lesson for your son...to be able to "pause", read about some people here who have fought hard but lost their battle with TC. To be THANKFUL that he does not have TC. Yes the doc made a mistake, but it does not jeopordize your son's life.

~Mary Ann

[btp]

I'm sorry your son and the family had to go through this cancer-scare, and while it's surely a relief that there was no cancer of the testis, it's understandable why it would be very upsetting at the same time to "lose something for nothing."

As other people here pointed out, the I/O is performed under the premise that it is "presumed cancer until proven otherwise." Since it's statistically such a high probability of cancer, I don't think a malpractice claim would survive for long in any jurisdiction.

As for the failure to insert the prosthetic, that's a different issue. It sounds like negligence, but your son might, ultimately, be glad that he didn't get one. If you read around on this forum you'll see how some of the guys had problems with proper placement -- and how many who received no replacement feel just fine. It's a cosmetic, personal choice for each person.

I would hope that the doctor, at the very least, would agree to perform a follow-up surgery at no additional cost to you because of the initial mistake and failure to insert.

What state do you live in?

[Mrs Moggi]

I'm so glad that you got good news. I think that your doctor was following the standard of care in perfoming the I/O - biopsy would not be standard of care and if he'd done that he would be liable. Our doc told us it was probably cancer and I hung on to that one percent chance til I got the call from the OR that the frozen biopsy had come back positive.

If 1 in 100 tumors turn out to be benign, then someone has to be that 1. It's good to hear that your son was that 1 this time.

Jen

[Margaret]

I am very thankful that your son was one of the very few who thought he had cancer and then it turned out so well. That is standard to remove the testicle and actually I commend the doctor for getting it out so quickly. They told us my husband's tumor was doubling in size weekly, so moving fast is very important.

In regards to the implant, I am not sure what happened and maybe the doctor was focusing first on the bigger of the two issues. Either way, he may be glad he did not get one because I have heard many complaints.


A second opinion would not hurt just to be sure it was not cancer

[Aegean]

As far as the implant goes, here is a little discussion on some of the challenges some of the guys here are dealing with.