Legal Implications of Prostate Cancer Screening

The prostate cancer screening debate has implications beyond the clinical exchange between physicians and their patients. The formalization of contradictory expert medical opinion and data interpretation into highly visible clinical practice guidelines opens the door for medical malpractice claims alleging negligent prostate cancer screening practices. This chapter highlights the current guidelines for prostate cancer screening, details the guideline development process, and investigates the role of these guidelines in medical malpractice law. This in-depth review of medical malpractice jurisprudence finds that the courts are well suited to assimilate the prostate cancer screening debate and the affiliated guidelines into the negligence analysis. Specifically, expert medical witnesses relying on guidelines to articulate a standard of care are held to high evidentiary standards, and courts have well-established precedent allowing for consideration of multiple standards of care.