South Carolina Lawyer Blog
The Dallas Morning News reports one of the largest awards in Denton County, since tort law reform of 2003, has been awarded to the family of a woman who died from misdiagnosed cancer in 2004. The $3.5 million is expected to be reduced to $1.5 million due to civil law and will be divided between her husband, her two children, and her father.
In October, 2002, the 33-year-old woman was told by Highland Family Medical Center the marble sized lump on her head was a sebaceous cyst. The cyst was removed and was not sent to a lab for testing to confirm that it was a cyst. When the cyst returned a year later, the woman saw another doctor but did not have it removed because she was pregnant. By January, 2004, the cyst had quadrupled in size and was diagnosed as a sarcoma. After vigorous treatment, she died on December 14, 2004, leaving a husband and two small children.
The medical malpractice suit was filed by the woman’s husband against the medical center, the doctor, and the physician’s assistant who removed the initial cyst.