Colon cancers on occasion bleed. In certain cases, the blood may show up in the stool. When the cancer is near the rectum, the blood might even surface as bright red. Even when the blood cannot be seen, it might yet be possible to find out that the individual is bleeding in other ways. As an example, the loss of blood may show up as anemia. Blood tests might reveal internal loss of blood that might be the result of cancer in the colon. Crucial blood test results to check are the hemoglobin, hematocrit, and Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) levels. Levels below the normal range may mean blood loss and iron deficiency anemia. When someone is found to have levels that are below normal levels for these tests physicians generally concur that there ought to be follow up to find out the reason for the blood loss, like the possibility of cancer of the colon.

Look at the matter of a 64 year old male patient whose blood tests showed all of the above. The subsequent year, the individual's blood work revealed a deterioration of the man's problem. Additionally, a guaiac test revealed the presence of blood in the patient's stool. Without any further testing or referring the individual to a specialist the man's physician entered a diagnosis of hemorrhoids into the man's record. Moreover, the person's PSA level (a test that is used to screen males for prostate cancer) was a 10.3 (anything above a 4.0 is often regarded as high and suggestive of possible prostate cancer). The doctor made no mention in the person's chart to indicate an examination of the prostate. The physician failed to relay to the person about the high PSA levels and failed to refer him to a specialist.

Roughly two years later the individual was seen by another physician. Because of the individual's age this doctor ordered a barium enema. The result: a diagnosis of advanced colon cancer. The individual passed away from the spread of the cancer not even three years after his diagnosis. The man's family pursued a claim against the physician who overlooked the patient's abnormally low blood test results and dismissed the existence of blood in the man's stool. The law firm that handled the matter reported a settlement in the case in the amount of $1,250,000

Blood tests are done for a reason. Abnormal test results suggest that something may be wrong, maybe even seriously wrong with the patient and call for follow up. At times follow up includes repeating the blood test in just a brief period of time to determine whether the levels return to normal. But when the levels deviate sufficiently from normal levels or keep getting worse, doctors generally recognize that this increases the importance of ordering appropriate additional tests to find out the explanation for those levels. Physicians further generally concur that blood in the stool of an adult individual calls for fast attention to eliminate the possibility of cancer of the colon as the reason. A colonoscopy is often ordered to look at the whole colon and either locate or exclude the presence of any tumors. This doctor failed to do any of this.