Doctor Is Accused of Negligence by State : Medicine: Board wants to revoke or suspend license of physician who failed to detect prostate cancer in a patient he treated for eight years. The man later killed himself.

State medical investigators have accused a former San Fernando doctor of gross negligence and incompetence for failing to detect prostate cancer in a retired postal supervisor who committed suicide after his disease reached an advanced stage.

The Medical Board of California wants to revoke or suspend Dr. Amor F. Pierce’s physician’s license for his treatment of the 75-year-old postal worker, who shot himself in the head at his Pacoima home in September, 1990.

The retired postal employee, identified in medical board documents only as Lawrence H., visited Pierce’s former San Fernando office 47 times from 1982 to 1990 for treatment of urinary and other problems, state officials said.

But he did not learn he had cancer until another doctor diagnosed it in June, 1990, authorities said.

Pierce’s lawyer, William H. Ginsburg, denied the allegations. He said Pierce, a general practitioner who retired and lives in North Hollywood, plans to defend himself in hearings before an administrative law judge.

Ginsburg said it could be argued that Pierce should have spotted Lawrence H.’s cancer.

But even conceding that, Ginsburg said, the doctor should not lose his license because a single patient’s cancer went undetected. Lawrence H. began undergoing chemotherapy and other treatment soon after his condition was diagnosed as cancer, state authorities said.

But less than four months later, he killed himself with a shotgun.

Deputy state Atty. Gen. E.A. Jones, who is pursuing the case against Pierce, said he did not know if Lawrence H.’s suicide was related to his cancer.

But Lawrence H.’s daughter said his worsening cancer led directly to his suicide because he was in “a great deal of pain” and killed himself to spare his family from watching him die. The physician who diagnosed his cancer told him he would be dead within six months, the daughter said.

“My father had never threatened to take his life before. We didn’t even know he had that weapon. This was a shotgun he hadn’t fired since he was a teen-ager,” said the daughter, who did not want her name used.

“He went out to the garage. He was so weak I don’t know how he even found the shells. . . . He just did it while my mother was out shopping.”

State authorities said Pierce performed urinalyses, prostate exams and other tests on Lawrence H. over eight years, but the doctor’s records were “largely unintelligible.”

In 1983, an X-ray showed that Lawrence H.’s prostate was enlarged. But Pierce told him on six separate visits that he did not have any prostate problems, state officials said.

In early 1990, Lawrence H. became ill and started losing weight. At the time, Pierce gave him a diagnosis of chronic lung disease.

In June, 1990, a Van Nuys urologist diagnosed the condition as advanced prostate cancer. The urologist had noted earlier that his patient’s prostate was several times larger than normal.

Lawrence H.’s daughter, who filed a complaint that triggered the medical board investigation, said her family believes Pierce should have detected the cancer much earlier.

Men with prostate cancer are much more likely to survive if it is caught early, according to the National Cancer Institute. Ninety-one percent of them live at least five years if the cancer is treated while localized; the survival rate drops to 28% when the cancer metastasizes.