Failure to Diagnose – Breast Cancer – Sample Case
Akron & Canton, Ohio

The lawsuit:

36 year old woman filed a lawsuit against her ob/gyn practice and a Kentucky laboratory for failing to correctly interpret a needle aspiration, resulting in a failure to diagnose breast cancer.

What happened:

The woman detected a breast lump and went to her ob/gyn for evaluation. The physician performed a needle aspiration to remove fluid from the lump and see if it was only a cyst. He requested that she return to his office in one month. When she returned one month later, the lump was still present. He again performed a needle aspiration and this time sent the specimen to a lab in Louisville, Kentucky for interpretation. The results were reported that no cancer cells were present. The patient was then told that there was nothing to worry about and to return if she notices that lump changing or increasing in size.

Two years later, she noticed that the lump seemed to be getting larger. She returned to the ob/gyn and this time the partner examined her. He also told her that the lump was not cancerous and if she wanted to get it out because it bothered her then she could call a surgeon. She did follow-up with a surgeon and the lump was indeed cancerous. The cancer had also spread to her lymph nodes.

Through litigation, it was claimed that the lab had not interpreted the needle aspiration correctly. A settlement was reached with the ob/gyn physicians, the pathologist and the lab. The patient is alive, however, her life expectancy has been substantially reduced because of the over 2-year delay in diagnosing her cancer.

Settlement: $640,000.00

If you believe your physician may have failed to diagnose your breast cancer due to pathology error, you may have a claim. Be sure to consult a medical malpractice attorney immediately to investigate the matter, as there are strict time limitations for pursuing these types of cases.

For help with your failure to diagnose claim, contact Akron & Canton, Ohio medical malpractice attorney Angela Vagotis at 330-456-4122 or fill out this form.