Chicago Medical Malpractice Attorney Blog

Cancer misdiagnosis lawsuits make up a fair share of medical malpractice lawsuits. However, most of those misdiagnosis lawsuits deal with a delay in diagnosis that results in a fatal outcome for the plaintiff. Whereas in Pamela Chouinard v. Dr. Janis Atkinson, North Shore Pathology Consultants S.C., 08 L 9295, the misdiagnosis claim centered on a false positive cancer diagnosis which led to an unnecessary surgery.

The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit was brought by Pamela Chouinard following the removal of her thyroid gland. While Chouinard had initially been told the surgery was necessary because she had thyroid cancer, a biopsy taken after the surgery showed her thyroid to be benign and cancer free. Chouinard then sued Dr. Atkinson for misdiagnosing her alleged cancer and causing her to undergo thyroid surgery.

The case begins in July 2006 when 62 year-old Chouinard is found to have an enlarged thyroid gland. In order to determine the cause, she underwent a fine needle aspiration of her thyroid. The results showed multiple nodules on Chouinard's thyroid, including a cold nodule, which is a common sign of thyroid cancer. Based on the thyroid aspiration results, the reviewing pathologist, Dr. Atkinson, entered a positive finding of malignant cancer of the papillary thyroid.

Continue reading "Jury Finds for Doctor in Claim of Cancer Misdiagnosis - Chouinard v. Atkinson" »

It is common knowledge that the earlier cancer is diagnosed, the greater the chance of survival. However, we continually see medical malpractice lawsuits where a treating physician failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of cancer in a timely manner. The Cook County medical malpractice lawsuit of Carmela Sahagun v. Allan Aven, M.D., et al., Case No. 08 L 5346, is yet another example of a failing to diagnose cancer in its early stages.

Forty-six year-old Carmela Sahagun presented to Dr. Aven, her primary care physician, complaining of a lump in her left breast as well as a hardness near her breast bone. In order to pinpoint the problem, Dr. Aven referred Sahagun for a CT scan of her chest. The diagnostic test returned signs of a 1.9 cm mass in her left lung; the radiologist further indicated in his report that he suspected the mass might be malignant.

Upon receiving the CT scan results, Dr. Aven appropriated consulted with a Dr. Loren, a surgeon, who recommended a breast biopsy to rule out breast cancer. In addition, Dr. Loren indicated that if the breast biopsy was negative for malignancy, then he would recommend a lung biopsy to rule out lung cancer. Dr. Loren then performed the breast biopsy on Ms. Sahagun, the results of which were negative. However, rather than preforming a lung biopsy, Dr. Loren dismissed Ms. Sahagun from his care and never saw her again.

Ms. Sahagun returned to Dr. Aven for further care and treatment. Over the course of the following year, Ms. Sahagun presented to Dr. Aven's office on several occasions, complaining of a cough and chest pain at each visit. However, despite these complaints and despite Dr. Loren's recommendation, almost a whole year passed before Dr. Aven finally ordered a lung biopsy. By this time, the lung biopsy revealed that Ms. Sahagun had Stage IV lung cancer.

Continue reading "Doctors’ Failure to Timely Diagnose Lung Cancer Leads to $850,000 Settlement - Sahagun v. Aven" »

Medicine is a healing profession; as patients we look to our physicians to cure our ailments and relieve our pain. However, in order to heal us, doctors must first diagnose the problem - a quick and speedy diagnosis is often the key to a successful recovery. Likewise, when there is an unnecessary delay in diagnosis, oftentimes the outcome is not very favorable for the patient.

Take for instance the case of 76 year-old Shirley Cyborski, who died as a result of the failure to diagnose her colon cancer for over a year. The medical lawsuit resulting out of this misdiagnosis of cancer, Estate of Shirley Cyborski v. Advocate Health and Hospitals Corp., et al, No. 08 L 6447, was recently settled for $2.05 million.

In 2006, Shirley presented to Advocate South Suburban Hospital for a barium enema examination. This exam is typically performed when a patient experiences a change in bowel habits, has abdominal pain or rectal bleeding, or if there is a suspicion that the patient has diverticulitis or polyps. An x-ray of Shirley's colon was taken at the time of the barium enema exam, which showed a mass in her colon. However, the colon mass was not reported and therefore her cancer went undiagnosed.

Continue reading "Misdiagnosed Colon Cancer Leads to Illinois Woman's Death - $2.05 Million Settlement Reached in Estate of Cyborski v. Advocate South Suburban Hospital" »

A recent Cook County jury verdict of $1.5 million was granted in a failure to diagnose breast cancer lawsuit. The Illinois medical malpractice case was brought against a family doctor by the surviving family of a 32 year-old woman who died from metastatic breast cancer in Estate of Lorraine Hollister v. Northwest Associates for Women’s Healthcare, P.C., et al., 05 L 8872. Hollister's estate alleged that the family practice physician had elected not to run tests that would have diagnosed the breast cancer three months earlier and that this delay decreased the effectiveness of its subsequent treatment.

While three months is typically a very short time in terms of a failure to diagnose breast cancer lawsuit, there were some special circumstances in Hollister . For one, Hollister first complained of pain and discharge from her breast when she was seven months pregnant. During that visit the defendant, Dr. Wener, did not actually perform an examination of her breasts. Instead he simply told her that changes in her breasts were common during pregnancy. No further examinations of her breasts were done during any of her further prenatal visits and her breast cancer was not found until her 6 week postpartum visit.

Continue reading "Cook County Breast Cancer Lawsuit Receives $1.5 Million Verdict - Estate of Lorraine Hollister v. Northwest Associates for Women’s Healthcare, P.C., et al." »

Several studies have recently investigated the dangers of different radiology scans and the possibility of radiation overexposure. While many of these radiology scans are important diagnostic tools, research has suggested that many physicians are unaware of the dangers of several different scans, or else are poorly informed about the inherent risks.

Radiology scans are an important tool in screening for breast cancer and allowed physicians to diagnose breast cancer much earlier, thereby increasing the cancer patient's hope of survival. However, depending on the type of radiology exam used the degree of radiation exposure varies drastically. For example, a typical mammogram increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer by 1.3 times per every 1,000 women.

A mammogram is the standard diagnostic exam to diagnose breast cancer, however, there are additional radiology exams that doctors might order if the mammogram fails to provide a clear diagnosis. Of of these exams, the breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer by 20 to 30 times and the positron emissions mammography (PEM) increases the risk by 23 times. Also, while radiation exposure during a traditional mammograms only increases the risk of developing breast cancer, the BSGI and PEM also increase the risk of cancer in other major organs, i.e. the bladder, gallbladder, kidneys, etc.

Continue reading "Breast Cancer Screen Should Consider Breast Imaging Radiation Risks According to Medical Journals" »

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer for American women, coming in just second behind lung cancer. According to www.breastcancer.org, one in every eight women in the U.S. develops some form of breast cancer. Like any form of cancer, a delay in diagnosis or a misdiagnosis of cancer can have a negative effect on a patient's outcome.

Once breast cancer is diagnosed, the typical treatment for breast cancer involves surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. However, a new study unveiled at a Chicago meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) could change the standard for breast cancer treatment. TARGIT-A study is an international study of breast cancer clinical trials involving over 2,000 breast cancer patients. The participants were women 45 years-old and up who had been diagnosed with invasive ductal breast cancer and were undergoing breast-conserving surgery.

Traditionally patients who elect for breast-conserving surgery undergo whole breast external radiation therapy for up to 6 1/2 weeks following surgery. However, the TARGIT-A clinical trials studied the effects of targeted radiation administered during the surgery. The radiation is administered in a single dose and targets only the area of the breast with cancer instead of the whole breast. Half of the studies participants underwent the traditional post-op radiation while the other half received the targeted radiation therapy during surgery. The TARGIT-A study found that the targeted therapy group did somewhat better overall than the traditional radiation group.

Continue reading "Breast Cancer One-Dose Radiation Treatment Option Revealed at Chicago Oncology Meeting" »

Even those of us who know little about cancer know that the earlier your cancer is diagnosed the better your chances. So if this is common knowledge then we would expect that it would be almost a rule in the medical community: rule out cancer whenever possible in order to insure the best outcome possible. Yet all too often we hear stories about patients whose cancer was either misdiagnosed as something else or undiagnosed all together. When the misdiagnosis of cancer leads to a far worse outcome for the cancer patient there is often a case of medical malpractice.

Consider the case of a recent Illinois wrongful death settlement that was approved by a Cook County judge. The widow received $1.59 million from her deceased husband's treating urologist and his physician group after he failed to diagnose her husband's bladder cancer in a timely manner. The plaintiff-decedent's undiagnosed cancer spread over a two-year period and was the ultimate cause of his death.

The facts of the Illinois wrongful death case are as follows. Over the span of two years the man presented to his urologist for CT scans of his abdomen and pelvis. The scans showed two enlarged lymph nodes, which can be a sign that cancer has metastasized to other areas of the body. However, the urologist took no action to investigate the enlarged lymph nodes for cancer.

Continue reading "Cook County Undiagnosed Cancer Malpractice Case Settled: Urologist Failed to Pursue Abnormal Masses on CT" »

Last Friday, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston hosted a symposium for patients diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor (GIST) and their families. The all-day event, "Living with GIST", was not only informative for GIST patients, but was also a celebration. The event marked the ten-year anniversary of finding a successful treatment for GIST.

GIST is a rare type of cancer that affects the body's digestive tract and its nearby abdominal structures. Unlike the majority of cancers, which are carcinomas, GIST tumors are sarcomas and do not respond to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. As Dr. George Demetri explained to the audience, prior to the development of effective treatments, GIST tumors were surgically removed until it was no longer clinically effective to do so. The development of molecular targeted therapy, such as Imatinib (Gleevec) and Sunitinib (Sutent), changed the prognosis for GIST patients, bringing hope where there had been none.

Dr. Demetri and his colleagues shared the joy of the early days of the Imatinib clinical trials, when they saw the previously untreatable cancer tumors shrinking and stabilizing after short trials of drug therapy. The enthusiasm of Dr. Demetri and his colleagues, combined with the stories of hard work and barriers overcome, spoke to the amazing accomplishments of these medical professionals.

Continue reading "Celebrating Ten Years of GIST Treatment: A Look at Developments in Molecular Targeted Therapy" »

An Illinois medical malpractice case recently was settled, avoiding an Illinois jury trial regarding the death of an Illinois man with undiagnosed bladder cancer. The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit revolved around the urologist who allegedly failed to diagnose the man's bladder cancer in a timely manner.

The case calls to mind the importance of securing a timely diagnosis in Illinois cancer cases, where just a few months delay may result in drastic differences in the cancer's staging and in the patient's chance of a positive outcome.

In this particular case the man had first been referred to the urologist for a second opinion regarding continued complaints of urinary tract difficulties. The defendant doctor determined that the man's symptoms were behavioral, meaning that they had more to do with the patient's mental state than with his physical state. In light of this diagnosis, which was later found to be unfounded, the doctor decided that these symptoms did not present any risk to the patients lower or upper urinary tracts.

Continue reading "Cook County Cancer Misdiagnosis Case Leads to Wrongful Death: Illinois Case Settles During Trial" »