We live in Kansas. A relative of mine, who is 29, recently beat cancer. He had sarcoma, bone cancer, in his knee. He ended up having a total knee replacement. In our small town, he was diagnosed as having low-grade sarcoma, meaning surgery would get the tumor. We then went to the nearest big city, where he was diagnosed by the surgeon as being mid-grade, meaning he would need chemo as well as surgery. The chemo gave him horrible side effects as well as made him permanently sterile. He almost died from the side effects because his throat swelled shut and he was SOOOOOO sick for 6 months. Turns out it was low-grade all along and removing the knee surgically got all the cancer. All that chemo was unnecessary. Does he have a malpractice lawsuit? It's been almost 2 years since the surgery.
onlyiuknow
I would think he didn't have a lawsuit. He and you should get on your knees and pray the cancer was resolved. Quit looking for hand outs. Usually one year after a case is the time limit in which you can file a lawsuit.
Panda
No. There is absolutely no guarantee with cancer treatments . . and no way of knowing if your relative would have survived without the chemotherapy or not. Sarcoma is rare . . .what is known about it is that it can lay dormant for an undetermined amount of time and than reoccur. If it has only been two years since your relative had this type of cancer . . that is not long enough to be considered 'cured' . . he is in remission with no evidence of disease . .it could reoccur at any time, although the further out he gets from treatment the more likely that the remission is permanent. He is very fortunate . . and from what I know about advanced forms of sarcoma . . taking the chemotherapy may well have saved his life. I know one young man who had a small sarcoma removed from his colon and decided to do no chemotherapy at all . . decided to just try an all natural approach and diet and include supplements . . he was no evidence of disease for about six months . .and was shocked when the disease reoccured as a stage IV. He was filled with cancer.
So, the fact your relative had the chemo .. may be the reason he does not have any further evidence of disease.
I am sorry about the sterility issue .. he should have been told to bank his sperm. There are support groups that may be able to help in this situation. In any event .. sterility may be a small price for his life.
Spreedog
Listen to Panda on this one.
If he had received no chemotherapy and the cancer came back, he and the family would be thinking law suit for not giving the treatment. He should be thankful for his life.
We KNOW that chemotherapy is barbaric and will be considered "Dark Ages Medieval torture" by the end of the century, but for NOW it is all we have. We cannot see microscopic cancer remnants after surgery.
When a surgeon says he or she "Got it all" he or she means all that could be seen.
Pathologists often disagree on grading of tumors. I had one patient whose lymph node biopsy received five different answers as to type of lymphoma - - and these were some of the best pathology groups in the USA. He and his family were very intelligent - insisting that the slides be sent around to the best medical centers to confirm the diagnosis. There was never agreement. One center said the tissue was "benign." It was impossible to explain the discrepancies. I finally said, "It was the type that went away with the combination of chemotherapy drugs I used" - - which it did - - and it was a very large mass in his chest right next to his heart. His life threatening cancer was resolved with chemotherapy - - - and we never knew exactly what type to label it.
Medicine is still an art and not a perfect science.
Orignal From: Does he have a medical malpractice lawsuit?
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