When a patient is diagnosed with prostate cancer, depending on the patient’s age, the characteristics of the cancer, and other factors, a urologist may recommend surgery. However, if surgery is not indicated, if proper safety measures are not taken prior to or after surgery, or if errors occur in surgery, a patient may suffer serious harm (including death), and may have a viable malpractice claim.
Prostate surgery errors include the decision to offer a patient surgery in the first place. Surgery for prostate cancer typically involves removing the prostate and often some surrounding tissues (called a radical prostatectomy). Surgery can be a good option if the cancer has not spread outside of the prostate. But if the surgeon failed to take reasonable steps to confirm that the cancer has not likely spread, she should not then recommend what amounts to an unnecessary surgery.
Similarly, it may not be in the best interests of the patient to have surgery. Consider an elderly gentleman with a slowly rising PSA level. While technically his chances of having prostate cancer are increasing, the likelihood that he will suffer from prostate cancer during his lifetime may be so small, and the risks of surgery so high, that it makes no sense to offer the patient surgery. If a surgeon fails to give the patient any other options, and harm occurs in the surgery, that may give rise to a viable claim.
Or, a surgeon may err in choosing the correct surgical procedure to remove the prostate. Generally there are three ways to take out a prostate: an “open” procedure (cutting open the abdomen to gain access to the prostate); a laparoscopic procedure (little holes in the abdomen are created where tools can pass through); and what’s called a Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP: where the surgeon can enter through the urethra).
If the prostate is too large, a surgeon should not offer or attempt to remove it through a TURP procedure. If the does, that may constitute a prostate surgery error and give rise to a claim.
Additionally, prostate surgery, like most other surgeries, involves general risks that must be accounted for. Specifically, surgeons must consider what steps they must take to prevent infections from occurring (including prescribing antibiotics). Further, any surgery increases the risk of a patient developing a potentially dangerous blood clot called a DVT, particularly if the patient will spend a significant amount of time immobilized after surgery. Surgeons must consider whether and to what extent their patients must be protected against DVTs. Finally, any surgery involves risks that something will go wrong in the surgery. Surgeons can carelessly cut through the wrong tissues when removing the prostate, including nearby blood vessels or nerves, or perforating the nearby bladder and bowel. Although a perforation does not automatically mean a surgeon did something wrong, it might. And perhaps more importantly, if the surgeon fails to appreciate that a perforation did occur, or fails to monitor the patient for worrisome signs of a perforation following surgery, the patient may develop an infection, including possibly sepsis.
