(Photo by Stina Sieg - KJZZ) Phoenix VA hospital.

A trial continues in a medical-malpractice lawsuit against the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital as the veteran suing the hospital testified Tuesday.

Eighteen-year Army veteran Steven Cooper is terminally ill with prostate cancer that he alleges could have been treated earlier if the Phoenix VA had followed up on a 2011 prostate exam.

In his testimony, Cooper said the nurse who conducted his initial exam was indifferent and didn’t order tests after irregularities in the exam. And that those tests could have found the cancer earlier rather than when he was diagnosed in late 2012.

In 2012, Cooper said a biopsy to diagnose the cancer was difficult to schedule, and, when it was, he was given less than a year to live.

“Well the case is critically important to not just Mr. Cooper but to all veterans, so we’re doing our best for him in there,” the plaintiff’s attorney Holly Mosier said.

When he sought private health care, it was because he felt working with the VA felt “futile.”

“We need to hear it from him," Mosier said. "We need direct testimony from Mr. Cooper to explain the care he received and didn’t receive and what he’s gone through.”

The defense argues that it is only speculation that a doctor could have caught the cancer in Cooper’s first visit, and that VA staff acted within the standard of care.