I work in this field and directly am involved with the treatment of prostate cancers. What you describe is not standard of care, and I’d hesitate to say that everyone should be so alarmed of getting prostate or any cancer. It’s unfortunate that your father’s PCP wasn’t aware of such warning signs, and I’m sorry for your loss.

However, We’ve seen this before with prostate and breast cancer where early and often screening leads to not only false positives but undue stress on patients. Furthermore, catching a nonaggressive prostate cancer 2-5 years early may lead to the same outcomes as catching it when certain things like PSA are detected to be increasing. But you may drastically affect one’s quality of life. It can at times be a difficult balance.

We see more and more elderly patients being treated because they are living longer. For many though, “waitful watching” or “active surveillance” is the correct clinical decision and always is up to the patient.

Finally, while prostate cancer isn’t as publicized as breast cancer (we’re trying!). It is a well known cancer and there is awareness of it.