colon rectal cancer

Both hemorrhoids and colon cancer can cause bleeding. Hemorrhoids can be uncomfortable but are not life-threatening. Colon cancer however can kill you. When a patient presents with complaints of rectal bleeding a diagnosis of hemorrhoids, without first performing appropriate tests to eliminate the possibility of cancer, can be fatal. Consider the allegations that were made in the following documented case.

A 37-year-old woman tells her primary care physician that she is noticing blood in her stools. The doctor sends her home with a kit for her to take samples of her school over a three-day period. She returns the material which are examined and found to reveal the presence of occult blood in the stools. Despite the fact that this woman had previously informed the doctor that her father had colon cancer the doctor, rather than ordering a colonoscopy to determine whether the source of the blood was from cancer, instead merely does an examination of the rectum. The doctor found a small hemorrhoid and concluded that that was the reason for the blood in the stools.

Over the course of the next 14 months the woman is seen by this doctor more than half a dozen times. Although the woman had no additional complaints during this time she then reported again seeing blood in her stool. Her symptoms now also included constipation and pain in her abdomen. Once again however the doctor merely examined her rectum. And of course the doctor once again found the hemorrhoid. And so once again the doctor assured her that her problems were due to the hemorrhoids.

After nine months and six more visits the woman is now complaining not only of pain but also diarrhea, cramping, and loose stool. This time the doctor did not even examine her rectum again. The doctor simply stuck to the original diagnosis and once again told her that her problems were all due to the hemorrhoid. When the woman returned two weeks later her primary care physician was not present and the doctor who was covering found no hemorrhoids but noted dark blood showing up on physical examination. This doctor referred the woman for a colonoscopy. The results of the colonoscopy and further testing revealed that she had cancer of the colon which had spread to her liver. She died within two months.

The law firm that represented her family, including her to young children, was able to report a settlement of the resulting lawsuit in the sum of $1.8 million. No doubt the had experts who would have testified that under the circumstances the standard of care required that the primary care physician order a colonoscopy as soon as the woman began to report blood in her stools and that the cancer could have been treated successfully had she been diagnosed at that point.

An analysis of this case reveals certain concerns about the way doctors think about colon cancer. There seem to be some doctors who continue to believe that people can be too young for colon cancer despite the fact that every year there are a certain number of individuals who are diagnosed with cancer of the colon at an age younger than 50. In this case the patient showed two risk factors for colon cancer. First she had symptoms consistent with colon cancer. Second she had a family history. Because certain colon cancers can have a genetic component to them individuals who have a family history of colon cancer are often screened at a younger age than the general population. Yet despite this her doctor insisted that she did not have colon cancer without ever conducting any testing. Whether this doctor did this because of her age or because of the significantly greater prevalence of hemorrhoids over cancer of the colon may never be known. The result however was the tragic death of the woman. This case will hopefully serve to educate doctors regarding the care provided to individuals under similar circumstances.

Joseph Hernandez is an Attorney accepting medical malpractice cases and wrongful death cases. You can learn more about cases involving colon cancer and other cancer matters including breast cancer by visiting the websites

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Based upon recent high quality clinical research, only Vitamin D, among all vitamins, appears to have potentially significant cancer prevention effects. However, as with all areas of clinical and laboratory research, one can find contradictory research results for Vitamin D, as well.

An innovative prospective clinical research study is now reporting its results, which appear to link Vitamin D deficiency to colorectal cancer death rates. As with previous research studies, the findings of this study strongly suggest that Vitamin D deficiency may be linked with a higher risk of death due to colorectal cancer. The findings of this clinical research study appear in the current issue of the journal Cancer.

An interesting and unique aspect of this particular clinical research study was its evaluation of the potential impact of Vitamin D deficiency on the well-known increased risk of death due to colorectal cancer that has been observed in African-Americans when compared to Caucasian patients. As our bodies create active Vitamin D from exposure of our skin to sunlight, and as people with darkly pigmented skin are more prone to developing Vitamin D deficiency, when compared to lightly-pigmented people, the authors of this study sought to assess the potential colorectal cancer risk impact of Vitamin D deficiency on patient volunteers with darkly pigmented skin.

In this large public health study, the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), which was conducted between 1988 and 1994, blood levels of Vitamin D were measured in study volunteers. Patients with a Vitamin D level of less than 20 ng/dL were considered to be deficient in Vitamin D.

As previous public health studies have also shown, the results of this study indicated that African-Americans are twice as likely to die of colorectal cancer when compared to Caucasians. When blood levels of Vitamin D were considered, specifically, the increased risk of dying from colorectal cancerobserved in African-American patients decreased by 40 percent among those African-Americans who had normal levels of Vitamin D in their blood. (These results, therefore, suggest that at least 40 percent of the increased risk of dying from colorectal cancer in African-American persons is likely to be caused by Vitamin D deficiency.) When patients of all races were considered in terms of Vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for death due to colorectal cancer, patient volunteers with a blood level of Vitamin D less than 20 ng/dL were more than twice as likely (i.e., a 211 percent increase in risk)to die of colorectal cancerduring the course of this prospective research study, when compared with patients who had normal Vitamin D levels.

In summary, this large prospectively conducted public health study found, as have previous studies, a significant association between Vitamin D deficiency and the risk of dying from colorectal cancer. (Previous Vitamin D studies have also identified a 25 to 40 percent reduction in the incidence of colorectal cancer, and death due to colorectal cancer, in study volunteers with blood Vitamin D levels in the 30 to 40 ng/dL range.) While not all clinical research studies have shown this level of colorectal cancer risk reduction associated with normal blood levels of Vitamin D, this particular study joins a growing list of clinical studies that appear to show a significant reduction in colorectal cancer risk associated with adequate levels of Vitamin D in the blood.

As excessive Vitamin D intake can cause significant health problems (especially in patients with kidney disease and parathyroid gland disease), you should check with your doctor prior to considering the use of Vitamin D supplements.

For a complete discussion of Vitamin D as a cancer prevention agent, and other evidence-based approaches to cancer risk and cancer prevention, order your copy of my new book, "A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race." For the price of a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake, you can purchase this landmark new book, in both paperback and e-book formats, and begin living an evidence-based cancer prevention lifestyle today!

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