$1,882,000 Settlement

An early diagnosis of any serious condition, but certainly cancer, is imperative in order to give a patient the best chance for survival. Our client, who was 69 years old, had been seeing her primary care doctor on a regular basis making complaints that seemed ordinary and non-urgent. However, her complaints continued for an extended period of time, and when that happens, it is incumbent upon the medical professional, who we as patients put our trust in, to act aggressively to rule out what could be the most serious causes of the symptoms. Here, our client had signs and symptoms that went undiagnosed, which if properly addressed by her doctor, would have resulted in a differential diagnosis that included the possibility of cancer. Ultimately, our client went to a local hospital complaining of the very same conditions that she complained about to her primary care doctor. When the hospital ran certain tests, the radiology results were indicative of potential cancer, but they failed to make that clear to our client. In fact, our client felt reassured that everything was OK when she left the hospital on that very important day. Unfortunately, our client did have cancer that went undiagnosed by both her primary care physician and the hospital for a prolonged period of time and ultimately resulted in her death.

Doctors and hospitals have an obligation to uncover the cause of a patient’s ailments, so that early treatment can begin, but the defense argued that the signs and symptoms that our client had were not consistent with cancer. The defense argued that the doctor and hospital acted properly in their treatment of our client, which we disputed. On behalf of our client’s family, we took the defendants to task. Shortly before trial, we were able to secure a settlement, providing financial security for our client’s family after the loss of their loved one.