Imagine you are a male and you go to your doctor for your yearly checkup. Imagine the doctor orders blood tests, including a PSA test for the early diagnosis of prostate cancer. This is the way to determine if a man without any symptoms of prostate cancer might actually have it. Imagine the tests came back outside the normal range

Some doctors argue that prostate cancer screening, specifically PSA testing, has little or no worth. These physicians take the position that screening has little, if any, value. One factor, nevertheless, remains consistent. If the result of a screening test is abnormal the patient ought to be informed about the results and either be referred to a specialist or be told about the option for diagnostic testing, like a biopsy. Once more, however, some doctors also believe that, at least under certain circumstances, a male patient who is diagnosed with prostate cancer does not have to treat it immediately and merely should carefully monitor the cancer.

If the doctor fails to give the patient the option to undergo screening or fails to tell the patient about the abnormal test results the patient's prostate cancer may spread and metastasize without the man even knowing he may have cancer. Unfortunately, if a doctor noted that the patient's prostate was enlarged or there was a nodule on the gland and the PSA test results suggested abnormally high levels of the antigen and the physician did not notify the patient of the abnormal results, the individual would probably assume that meant the results were all normal. If the man does really have cancer, not telling him that he may have cancer will postpone his diagnosis.

A delay could, in turn, give the cancer time to reach an advanced stage. When a cancer metastasizes treatment can at best slow down the continuing growth of the cancer and reduce the effects (including pain) of the cancer. In situations like these, that man and his family might be able to pursue a failure to diagnose malpractice lawsuit against the physician.

Screening tests may have false positives. This means that some patients with abnormal screening results will not have cancer. But doing screening tests for cancer is meaningless if there is no follow up as it provides the patient an incorrect sense of security thinking he has no cancer as the doctor tested him and said nothing to him that the screening tests showed he might have cancer. Physicians generally concur the need for follow up when the results of screening tests come back as abnormal.