Last year, I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. I had an operation to remove the prostate, known as a radical prostatectomy.
This is an invasive procedure that leaves you incapacitated and wearing a catheter for the next couple of weeks.
Typical side effects of the operation are damage to sexual function, a degree of incontinence, and increased urgency to urinate. This I accepted as the cost of removing a potential deadly disease from my body. However, as it turned out, I should never have had the operation at all.
The problem was not so much that the operation didn’t remove all the cancer, but that it couldn’t possibly have done so. The actions of the surgeon in carrying out this unnecessary procedure led to a delay in treatment of my cancer, and further compromising side effects.
It also prompted the radiation oncologist who assisted with my subsequent ACC investigation to call for an immediate complaint to the Medical Council.
Doctors are people,
