I want to throw up !

Same thing happened to me my GP did not say a word that my PSA was high seen him many
times over the years not a word then on a visit 4 years later said Oh we better do a prostate
check your last one was a bit high.Took him 4 years to tell me but I must also take some blame
it is my health I should have asked and I should have had yearly tests.
But like you assumed that when he said nothing everything was alright but in the end I should have
made sure and asked what was the results from test.!!!
English Rodger.

To All: Thank you for all your insight into this issue.  I am filing a Tort Claim because I believe the medical unit should have a system in place for notifying staff of an irregular lab result.  42 states have enacted laws protecting patients...some mandate that lab results be directly mailed to patients. Something has to change:  SEE Below!   Anybody know a good lawyer?   Failure to Communicate Clinical Test Results‐ A Legal Analysis for Pennsylvania Center for Health Law, Policy & Practice Page patient notice practices, one can look to the United States Department for Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality study on patient safety practices published in 2001 for guidance. 61 It was concluded when patients were given the ability to opt in to direct notification of test results, the rate of failure to inform was reduced. 62 When patients had the ability to opt into direct notification of test results, the study found that 0% of individuals with abnormal results neglected a follow up visit with their treating physician. By contrast, 23% of individuals in the control group with abnormal results, who did not receive direct notification, failed to schedule a follow up visit. 63

The very title of your thread is a real grabber.  I also feel the urge to throw up.  Your disappointment and anger are palpable, and it's easy to understand why.  I feel really bad that you now find yourself with a Gleason 7, seminal vesicle invasion, a positive margin, and other complications when you could have/should have been treated earlier before these complications came into being.

But, isn't it true that a case such as  yours represents the "tip of the spear" regarding the future of prostate cancer if the current recommendations regarding the PSA test, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment are allowed to stand?

You were "screened," and the current wisdom is that screening should be done away with.  Under the current thinking,  you shouldn't even have been screened, so even today in the year 2013 you would still probably not even know that you have prostate cancer unless you developed symptoms.  Today's thinking is that there should be no screening, and that the PSA test is more likely to cause harm than good, so where would that leave a guy like you?

Given that the screening results were never made known to  you and that your agency no longer offers PSA testing, how did you discover that you had prostate cancer?  Did you ask for a PSA test outside of the agency physical?  Did you develop symptoms?  Clearly you must have done something on your own initiative the led to the discovery of your cancer, something which would likely go beyond most current recommendations.

I guess my question for those who think the PSA test should be done away with is this:  how many men do you think will be wanting to throw up when they find, like our member here in this thread, that they have advanced prostate cancer?  Remember also that his original biopsy suggested Gleason 6, and many here would have advised him that he need not be in a hurry to seek treatment, or that maybe he shouldn't seek treatment at all.  How much of an aberration is this, a 49-year-old man facing complications that could easily have been avoided. 

Can someone tell me how many men we're going to see in similar situations?

 

Post Edited (clocknut) : 6/6/2013 8:50:42 AM (GMT-6)

Clock:

I am willing to bet that 95% of our members here got dx. due to a rising PSA.

I know I did, and it turned out that my PC is not curable.

It's been 3 1/2 years since dx. for me. If I never had any PSA tests, I have a feeling I would be in pretty bad shape now (or in the very very near future).

Mel

I thank God that my MD's husband had PC at age 40.  She added the PSA test to his labs on a whim and his was over 7.  Post surg pathology showed a huge tumor.  She's testing her patients starting at age 40 ever since and was concerned when mine jumped from 1 to 2 some 4 or 5 years ago.  Urologist and I been tracking it ever since, and wanted to do a biopsy while I was still in the 3+ range (Robotic RP two weeks ago at age 55 with PSA at 4.8).

Every man deserves this level of care and consultation and anything less should not be tolerated.  Good luck 49 with whatever path you follow.

49,

I like your new doctor already.

david in sc