Medical Verdicts

Did focus on HRT delay cancer diagnosis?


 

Loundon County (Va) Circuit Court

A woman was treated by a group of gynecologists for recurrent gynecologic bleeding and problems associated with hormone replacement therapy. After several episodes of nonstop bleeding she was advised to discontinue all hormone replacement and return in 6 months. According to her physician, he also advised her to return or call in 1 week if the bleeding continued or did not lessen. However, this instruction was not recorded on her chart.

The woman then moved to Arizona, where she consulted a different gynecologist, who diagnosed the rare cancer leiomyosarcoma. The woman died 2 years later.

In suing, the woman’s family claimed that the first group of gynecologists failed to diagnose and treat the cancer.

  • The jury returned a defense verdict.
The cases in this column are selected by the editors of OBG Management from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts, with permission of the editor, Lewis Laska, of Nashville, Tenn (www.verdictslaska.com). While there are instances when the available information is incomplete, these cases represent the types of clinical situations that typically result in litigation.

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