Do doctors normally tell the patient(while he is in recovery)that he has cancer after a colonoscopy, lower GI?

Question

I want to know if Doctors wait for an ethically better time to tell you that you have cancer. Do doctors hold off telling you, you have cancer till a later time...or do they tell you right after the procedure..ie. colonoscopy, lower gi.

Answer 1

Well you can't really confirm colon cancer without a biopsy so the results would not be available for a couple of days anyway.
However it is pretty obvious when looking at a colonoscopy whether a suspicious malignancy is present, so if the doctor has any sense or compassion he/she will wait until you're fully concious and able to understand what you're being told and ask questions. Although I've seen plenty of doctors that walk into the room when the patient is barely awake from anasthesia, tell them they have cancer, and walk out.

Answer 2

some time they are able to look at a mass and tell you it is probably cancer, but a lot of times they have to wait on the pathology report, sometimes there is cancer inside the polyp that can not be seen until the pathologist does the slides and looks at it closely. but i can say after a colonscopy the doctors usually know if it is a large mass or not.

Answer 3

Doctors can tell petty much after they do a colonoscopy what your results are. If they find something suspicious they will let you know before you leave the recovery room.

Answer 4

The doctors can't tell you it is cancer until the biopsies come back so NO they do not tell you in recovery unless they have seen for sure that yes it is cancer.

Answer 5

They cant tell you until they have the test results . They will tell you if they do a biopsy I believe or if they found anything like pockets in your colon etc. but as for what you have they wouldnt know yet.

Answer 6

that depends entirely on the doctor and the relationship he has with his patients. There are no hard and fast rules to follow.