By DAVID E. WILLIAMS
I’m impressed that the Boston Globe printed a number of insightful letters in response to its Mistakes that matter
article, which discussed the case of two patients whose prostate cancer
biopsies got mixed up. (One had cancer, the other didn’t. The one
without cancer got surgery as a result of the mixup, the one with
cancer had delayed treatment and possibly negative consequences as a
result.)
Two of the four letters are from patients who were tested for
cancer. The best is one from Irving Sacks of Peabody, documenting how
he searched widely for alternative treatments after being diagnosed
with cancer of the esophagus. In the end he found out from a medical
center in California that he had another condition –not cancer– and
didn’t need the proposed surgery to remove his esophagus. He says (and
I concur):
When confronted with a life-threatening
medical assessment, do not rely on a single diagnosis, and, when
getting a second opinion, go outside the network, even to another city.
Edgar Dworsky of Somerville wasn’t persuaded that he had prostate
cancer after the first pathologist said the slides were “suspicious for
cancer,” so he took the same slides to another pathologist who said he
“definitely” had prostate cancer and a third who said the slides were
“highly suspicious for prostate cancer.” Based on that set of findings
he’s decided he doesn’t (yet) have prostate cancer and has embarked on
a program of watchful waiting rather than active treatment. At least
from what he’s written it’s a little hard to follow his logic but for
his sake I hope he’s right.
