Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Personal Injury Law Blogs -> Northern Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal Injury Law

: Northern Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer

Delay in Cancer Diagnosis is Costly in Virginia

By Ben Glass

<p>A jury in Spotsylvania County has awarded the family of a woman who died after a delayed diagnosis of breast cancer more than $7.5 million.<br /> <br /> After a five-day trial, the jurors ruled against Fredericksburg family practitioner Dr. Donna Gamache on April 3.<br /> <br /> The award is believed to be among the largest medical malpractice awards in Virginia history and is the second major malpractice award against Gamache.<br /> <br /> In 2005, a jury in Fredericksburg awarded $1.8 million to a Spotsylvania man who alleged that Gamache failed to diagnose and treat a severe spinal condition.<br /> <br /> The April 3 decision will be reduced to $1.65 million, the state-mandated malpractice cap at the time of the negligence.<br /> <br /> The case began six years ago, when the plaintiff, Eleanor Browder, discovered an approximately 1'x2' lump in her right breast.<br /> <br /> Browder died of cancer in April 2008 before the complaint could ever go to trial. Her husband, Pat Browder, and her two adult children continued the case after her death.<br /> <br /> Browder was a registered nurse at Culpeper Regional Hospital. Her husband had been a longtime Spotsylvania mail carrier.<br /> <br /> The family had moved to New Jersey in recent years, where Browder was employed as a school nurse until her death.<br /> <br /> In March 2003, Browder, who was 53-years-old at the time, visited Gamache's office at Lee's Hill Medical Associates. A mammogram of her right breast was ordered by Mary Nichols, a nurse practitioner at the office. The test came back negative.<br /> <br /> At the time, both Gamache and Nichols were employed by the practice. Since that time, Gamache has opened Lee's Hill Family Physicians.<br /> <br /> Nichols was initially named as a defendant in the case, but reached a settlement with the family prior to trial, according to court records.<br /> <br /> According to Browder's attorney, the results of the mammogram were delivered to Gamache's mailbox at Mary Washington hospital. She examined them and wrote 'Need chart' at the top.<br /> <br /> However, says Browder's attorney, Gamache never received the chart and no further actions were taken.<br /> <br /> The suit argued that further testing, such as an ultrasound and biopsy, should have been ordered. Browder's attorney said that she had a perceptible lump in her breast and Gamache should not have relied on what turned out to be a false-negative mammogram.<br /> <br /> In October, Browder returned to Gamache. Her attorney says that by then, the lump had grown to the size of a lemon.<br /> <br /> Gamache ordered an ultrasound and biopsy to be performed, and the lump was identified as cancerous.<br /> <br /> Browder's attorney said that had the cancer been identified upon her initial visit, when the cancer was Stage I or Stage II, she would have had an increased chance of survival. However, the cancer had grown to Stage IV and was incurable by November.<br /> <br /> Browder underwent pre-surgery chemotherapy, surgery, a double mastectomy, and post-surgery chemotherapy and radiation.<br /> <br /> Browder's cancer went into remission until 2006, when it returned in her stomach, pancreas, and brain.<br /> <br /> After about five hours of deliberation, the jury ruled in favor of Browder's family. They awarded $212,000 for medical expenses, $785,000 for "economic loss," and $6.5 million to Paul Browder for "solace."</p><a href="http://northernvirginia.injuryboard.com/medical-malpractice/delay-in-cancer-diagnosis-is-costly.aspx?googleid=261440">Originally posted</a> at <a href="http://www.InjuryBoard.com">InjuryBoard</a> by <a href="http://www.injuryboard.com/Ben-Glass/">Ben Glass</a>

Full post as published by Northern Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer on June 13, 2009 (boomark / email).