Colonoscopy

Colonoscopy is a common diagnostic and screening procedure, and the malpractice claims arising from it fall into two broad groups: complications of the procedure itself, and failures in the diagnostic process around it. Procedural complications include bowel perforation and bleeding, while diagnostic claims concern missed lesions, inadequate examination, and failures in the follow-up of findings.

A recurring and serious fact pattern is the missed or interval colorectal cancer, where a lesion is said to have been overlooked at colonoscopy or where an inadequate examination or deficient follow-up of biopsy results allowed a cancer to progress. The standard of care is established through expert evidence from gastroenterology and general surgery, and causation in the cancer cases turns on what difference earlier detection would have made to the stage and prognosis, an analysis that overlaps with delayed diagnosis and loss of chance principles.

Posts tagged Colonoscopy analyze Ontario decisions involving complications of colonoscopy and missed or delayed diagnosis of colorectal disease.