Sommers Schwartz attorney Dina Zalewski and Judy Susskind negotiated a $700,000 settlement on behalf of a client for a medical malpractice claim related to failure to diagnose her cancer.

In 2019, our client was seeing a holistic doctor in addition to her regular primary care physician. For reasons not related to the malpractice in this case, the holistic doctor ordered an MRI study. On the MRI, there was an incidental finding of a kidney mass. The radiologist who read the MRI identified the mass but recommended a kidney ultrasound as a proper follow-up method rather than a contrast study.

The kidney ultrasound was ordered by the holistic doctor and it was performed at a different facility than the place the MRI was performed. The ultrasound reading radiologist did not have the benefit of the comparison study and was not advised that the reason for the study was to evaluate a mass on the left kidney. Ultrasounds are operator-dependent, and nothing was seen on ultrasound. The holistic doctor never followed up with the results of the study she ordered.

The primary care physician received copies of both the MRI and the ultrasound, even though she was not the ordering physician on either study. There was no attempt to reconcile the reason why a mass was seen on MRI and then not seen at all on an ultrasound that was performed the same month. The patient was advised by her primary care physician not to worry about additional follow up with respect to her kidney and assured her that the fact that the ultrasound did not identify the mass was consistent with the fact that sometimes kidney cysts go away on their own. The problem is that the client did not have a kidney cyst, she had a kidney mass.

Nearly two years later, our client began experiencing pain in her left hip area. An MRI ordered by her primary care physician showed the mass on her left kidney had grown significantly. The MRI was compared to the previous MRI and the mass was identified on both studies. A subsequent CT scan and biopsy revealed she had Stage IV renal cell carcinoma that had already spread throughout her body. Although she began undergoing aggressive treatment immediately, her prognosis is poor.

The negligent delay in diagnosis and treatment caused our client significant pain and suffering. What could have been treated with surgery alone and an excellent prognosis turned into stage IV cancer. Our client brought medical malpractice claims against her treating physicians and their employers for compensatory damages, applicable penalties or sanctions, and attorneys’ fees and costs.