Malpractice undiagnosed DCIS

Georgia:

Do we have a malpractice case. I'l try to write facts, statements, and questions, its too long and scary to put in a narrative.

Wife's Sister died of bilateral breast cancer- start 1988 death 93
Wife still menopausal at 56 years (infrequent now) yesterday first time in 7 months. Regular prior to that.
First pregnancy at 20
Took HRT for one year (2000-2001) prescribed by primary doctor
Wife dutifully had mammos starting in 93
Lump 7x5x6 mm discoverd in left breast by mammo in 97. Followed up dutifully for 5 years & lump gradually downgraded & assessed as benign by Radiologist.
Feb 7, 2002. Spiculations over 4.2 cm of right breast. Two biopsies performed by breast surgeon & result was dcis, the 3rd area not found.
Still no biopsy peformed in left breast
Wife elected mastectomy of right breast and reconstruction with own tissue, also mastopexy of left breast for cosmetic matching
Wife was asked one day prior to surgery if she would also like the left lump removed. Answer was yes....still no biopsy on the left.
April: Mastectomy performed on right breast and excisisonal biopsy and mastopexy peformed on left breast
May: 30 days elapsed wife told that left breast contained a grade III DCIS, papillary, central necrosis, and margin was 2mm. Right breast was at the margin & grade IIs. Negative right sentinel lymph nodes.
Wife elected another mastectomy this time with saline & back muscle transplant to hold it
May: Surgeon reguested biopsy refererral to another lab from left breast specimen
May: Referral result misplaced, lost, destroyed?
June: Surgery to remove left breast
June: 3 days after surgery referral found dated 3 days after surgery
Result: estrogen 40%, HER-2 overexpressed, s-phases overlapping, (A small focus of invasive tumor is observed) Last sentenced ammended out after surgery.
June: Husband fed up and requested all specimens be sent to a professional lab for complete analysis
June: Professional lab agreed no invasive tumors, however found 3 more DCIS and combo LCIS in other quandrants after hospitla path report stated no residual DCIS is observed. Also found margin at under 1mm.
We're overjoyed at the DCIS observation, however pretty suspicious as it doesn't take either a law professional or medical professional to see some common sense things were ignored 2 or 3 times. Believe in my heart that treatment should have started 5 years ago and that my wife had better than a 50% chance of having nothing but a lumpectomy with treatment, or at worst only missing one breast. So much for early detection programs. Total DCIS and markers ended up being 7 all together. The worst carcinomas or markers found last. I'm sure she would be gravely ill or dead in another 3 years. How in gods name can they play with my wife life like that? Is there a case, or two, or three or too hard to pursue becaue she isn't dead?
Yes, I have all the records, including mammos and sonograms. Started collecting the day she was told to go back for surgery?
Oh, presently unusual headaches, and pain in and around left shoulder area. Range of motion is severely restricted inf left arm.
One more oh, sentinel nodes negative on right and none ever checked on left side.
Husband for 37 more I hope.

[ellencee]

Husband37
God bless you and your wife; sometimes I fight back tears when I read these posts and tonight it hit me hard. I lost a dear friend in 1990 to breast cancer.

Even if I don't understand all of those abbreviations without checking reference sources, let me say this.

Let's look back at breast cancer treatments for just a second--the treatments available when all this started and was undiagnosed was so harsh and so physically destructive, had your wife received treatment then, she surely would have succumbed by now.

The element that you are going to have to prove is the 'but for' element--'but for' the acts of physician(s) X, your wife would not be in the circumstances in which she now is. This will be virtually impossible to prove. I'm not saying it can't be done; I'm saying I don't see an obvious 'but for' in this situation.

Some women have breast cancer and if they receive a lumpectomy today, they need another one next year, and next year, and next year. It is the nature of the particular type of breast cancer.

In today's medical world, early detection of breast cancer includes the testing for the gene that causes certain types of breast cancer. The treatment, or rather the preventative treatment, is double mastectomy. It took a long time getting here--much longer than it would have if it had been a male problem, or a homosexual problem, or a black problem; but, thank the good Lord, it is here. It arrived too late for your wife, but in time for any daughters or granddaughters that you may have.

Looking at these factors, and the data that has been uncovered in the past few years, you are up against a hard claim to prove. I encourage you to let it go and spend the rest of your wife's life enjoying every nanosecond of life with her.

Best wishes,
EC

Georgia

Thanks for the encouragment. I've done considerable ameteur research the last 6 months and am relatively sure they could have performed a lumpectomy, started her on Tamoxifen 1 to 5 years ago, along with radiation. At the very least I feel she should have been given the chance, even if it meant a clinical study. My point is she was never given the opportunity becasue it was left undiagnosed. Nothing in the whole process that I have checked went in accordance with acceptable standards. Maybe its just me because I'm obviously close. As for the my daughers, again thank you so much. We have 2 daughters, one in her mid 30s and the other in her late 20s. These experiences are very valuable in that regard, I intend to guide them in the right direction should they ever be faced with the same circumstances. Also will demand they get gene test etc. They'll probably throw Dad out of the house temporaily but I've been thrown out of many places. The good thing is they chill and always call back.

All for the want of a needle!
Husaband 37 more!

[ellencee]

The statute of limitations may have expired long ago and effectively stopped any potential for a claim of malpractice.
The 'but for' condition has to be met; or no claim; if the statute is still alive.

You are motivated and knowledgeable and apparently very capable. Maybe what you can accomplish is an expose (put accent part for me on that e). Have you considered publishing your findings and your wife's story?

You may be able to help more women, husbands, and family members by publishing your story, findings and research than you would have been able to do through a court of law.

Apologize for the first post. I used far too many acronyms and was just trying to shorten things a little. Hope a medical malpractice attorney reads it and gives me some guidance. As for the statute of limitaions... The lesion which they should have removed and biopsied prior to my wife's first surgery was there from 5 years ago up to April of this year. Radiologists and surgeons both had opportunities to order a biopsy numerous times but didn't do so. She had mammograms and sonograms on time and as ordered by the doctors. At least yearly and more often in the beginning, all the way up to the date they discovered DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ) in her right breast. That was the point at which I believe common sense should have taken over. Being an ex military guy it seems to me if you're fighting somebody on your right flank which is a killer then maybe you should check out the left flank where your intelligence identified the enemy long ago. Thats just to make sure he doesn't attack too. Poor analogy, but common sense none the less, and the outcome may be the same as breast cancer. As for exposing anybody, I'm wary of legal actions against myself for doing something like that. Also realize they save far more than they lose, however if no legal action is taken, I will difinitely file complaints with all governing medical bodies as well as the FDA. There problem in my opinion is herding these ladies through like cattle; they absolutely must slow down and get it right, follow recognized standards then and only then proceed.
For want of a nail a shoe was lost. For want of a shoe a horse was lost. I'm sure you know the rest but I feel better when I realize that we may not have lost. Anyway I could replace the word nail with needle biopsy and bring it to a horrible conclusion for many women.
Thanks again.