Among the principal tools available to help doctors in saving the lives of female patients is the mammogram, a test that checks for evidence of possible cancer in the breast, allowing doctors to diagnose the cancer in its early stages. Still, the mammogram is only as effective as the physician who interprets it. If a mistake is made in reading a mammogram it could holdup the detection of the woman's cancer. This holdup may be enough time for the cancer to metastasize, lowering the odds that the woman will be able to keep the breast or survive the cancer. Look into the reported case of a woman who had a routine mammogram and was told that there was no evidence of cancer. Approximately 2 years after, she had another mammogram. This time the mammogram was read as exhibiting no change to the dilated duct from the earlier mammogram. Yet, the previous mammogram had not shown a dilated duct and so the doctors did nothing to look into the suspicious reverse from the previous, clean, mammogram. Her mammogram was misinterpreted and her cancer was not detected. When the patient went in for another mammogram at a different hospital the coming year, the physician interpreting the mammogram documented various small nodular densities. The doctor documented that these remained unchanged from the past mammograms. Yet, the two earlier mammograms included no signs of nodular densities. Again, her mammogram was misread and again her cancer was not found. When the patient was at last diagnosed at a future date, the patient had stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized. It was moreover discovered that the spot that had previously been described as a dilated duct was location of the primary tumor. The woman pursued a malpractice claim against both doctors and hospitals. The physician and hospital that interpreted the third mammogram as indicating small nodular densities settled for an unpublished sum in an amount less that the $2.0 million available in insurance coverage. The doctor and hospital that misread the prior mammogram would not settle for the full amount of the policy. They were willing to pay only a mere $125,000. The case went to trial where evidence was introduced that had the mammogram not been incorrectly interpreted the cancer might have been found while only a Stage 1 cancer, which usually has a 5 year survival rate higher than 90%. The law firm that handled the claim reported that the jury returned a verdict of $12.0 million. This matter illustrates a number of important points. First, 2 different mammograms were incorrectly interpreted by two different physicians at two different hospitals. And both physicians attributed findings to past mammograms which were actually not present in those earlier mammograms. It is hard to figure out how this could have occurred unless the physicians each looked at a different patient's mammogram as the comparison. However the chances of this happening twice at two different hospitals is highly unlikely. But the level of carelessness that would be needed otherwise is genuinely unexcusable. In this case, the jury appears to have agreed.
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Women regularly get mammograms and trust in physicians to accurately read the images and tell them if they have cancer. However from time to time physicians misread a mammogram. The outcome may be a delay in the diagnosis of the woman's cancer. This article examines a reported lawsuit involving two mammograms misread by two different doctors. Due to the delay the woman's cancer spread before she was diagnosed.
Joseph Hernandez is an attorney accepting cancer cases. You can learn Find more information about advanced breast cancer and other cancer matters including prostatecancer visit the websites
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