Sommers Schwartz attorney Matthew Turner filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in Oakland County on behalf of a man who suffered significant injuries due to his doctors’ failure to diagnose the recurrence of his cancer.

In 2019, Donovan Dooley was diagnosed with malignant mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid gland (a cancerous tumor on one of his salivary glands). He underwent surgery to remove the gland and subsequent periodic testing to detect any recurrence. A PET scan in May 2021 and a CT scan in March 2022 were performed for this purpose.

Unfortunately, Mr. Dooley’s medical team at Beaumont Hospital negligently failed to recognize findings in the imaging indicating his cancer had returned. His tumor continued to grow until it was finally diagnosed and then removed in May 2023. Mr. Dooley underwent a far more extensive surgery than would have been necessary if the tumor had been discovered two years earlier. 

As a result of the defendants’ negligent failure to make a timely diagnosis, Mr. Dooley suffered residual facial muscle paralysis, speech dysfunction, and damage to the facial nerves that could have been avoided with early intervention. The delay also increased the risk that the cancer will recur and require future treatment. In his lawsuit, Mr. Dooley seeks compensation for his past and future medical expenses caused by the defendants’ negligence, pain and suffering, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of wages and earning capacity, mental and emotional anguish, anxiety, and other damages and losses.