Berks Jury Awards $9.6M Verdict in Delayed Cancer Diagnosis Case
A Berks County jury has awarded $9.6 million to a 15-year-old girl who sued Reading Hospital for failing to diagnose her cervical cancer in a timely manner.
December 13, 2019 at 04:29 PM
3 minute read
A Berks County jury has awarded $9.6 million to a 15-year-old girl who sued Reading Hospital for failing to diagnose her cervical cancer in a timely manner.
The trial lasted eight days in the courtroom of Judge Madelyn Fudeman of the Berks County Court of Common Pleas. The jury deliberated over the course of two days. The girl, identified as L.M. in court papers, first went to the hospital in 2014 complaining of vaginal bleeding, but it wasn't until 2016 that she was diagnosed with cancer, at age 11.
"There was a significant delay in diagnosing [L.M.'s] cancer from her initial presentation/complaint of vaginal bleeding in 2014 by her primary care providers. There were multiple missed opportunities to diagnose and treat her cancer at a much earlier time by various providers. [In 2015 she presented to several Emergency Room providers with identical complaints]," the plaintiff's pretrial memorandum said. "This was clearly a very aggressive cancer as noted by the aggressive biology of clear cell cancers as well as the progression of recurrence in this patient. One of the best prognosticator of good outcomes with this type of cancer is the absence of lymph node involvement at time of diagnosis."
"Unfortunately, due to the calamity of errors made by L.M.'s primary providers and at Reading Hospital's Emergency Room, L.M.'s very treatable cancer was permitted to progress unchecked to a very advanced stage," the plaintiff's papers continued. "The care that L.M. has required due to her advanced stage cancer is nothing short of horrific, having to eventually undergo pelvic exenteration, a procedure wherein her bowel, bladder, rectum, anus and vagina were removed. L.M.'s cancer is terminal and she in unlikely to live past her 25th birthday, however she continues to fight the cancer having undergone experimental treatments to prolong her life."
Reading Hospital's pretrial memorandum focused mainly on the chain of events and claimed "Reading Hospital denies that any actions or inactions" by its doctors "constitute negligence and/or that any alleged negligence either caused or increased the risk of harm to LM."
B. Craig Black of Saxton & Stump represents the hospital and did not return a call seeking comment.
Reading Hospital took the position that L.M.'s condition did not require an ultrasound, according to the plaintiff's attorney, Joshua Van Naarden of Ross Feller Casey in Philadelphia, who tried the case with Kevin Harden.
"The jury saw through a defense that was focused on blaming the family and blaming other individuals and recognized that she was just where she needed to be to have her cancer diagnosed at an earlier stage, where it would have made a significant difference for this little girl," Van Naarden said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllHigh Verdicts and Venue Rule Land Pa. Courts on Top of 'Judicial Hellhole' List
5 minute readJudge Awards $200K in Attorney Fees Following $80K Employment Discrimination Award
4 minute readPa. Federal District Courts Reach Full Complement Following Latest Confirmation
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250