unneccesary surgery & lab results

My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer 9 years ago and the cancer was treated with chemo therapy and a full mastectomy. The cancer was large but quickly went away with the chemo which surprised the oncologist. There was never a re-occurrence. Our question is do the labs that report the findings have to keep the specimens on hand after the treatment and if they do, how long do the keep them? Is there a way we can obtain any leftover samples and have another lab test them? We have a bad feeling this was never a cancer. Can someone help us? Thank you.

Hi mcons1: I'm not sure about the answers to your questions regards the biopsy, tissue specimen, getting samples from 9 years ago (or how you would get that done on your own without an attorney). Regardless of the answer, if you and your wife have reason to believe there was never any cancerous cells and that she underwent a mastectomy unnecessarily, I think you should share your suspicions with an attorney and then let him handle everything if he believes your suspicions are worthy of legal representation. I think you would find it extremely difficult to do any of this on your own. Call several med mal attorneys in your area and "feel them out". A consult is usually free, too.

Best of luck to you.

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Statutes of Limitations

Any action for personal injury or death against a physician or hospital must be filed within two years from the date the claimant knew or reasonably should have known of the injury. 735 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. § 5/13-212 (West 1992). In no instance may a claimant bring an action more than four years after the date on which the alleged act or omission occurred. Id. This statute of repose is constitutional. Mega v. Holy Cross Hospital, 111 Ill. 2d 416, 490 N.E.2d 665 (1986).

All States have different laws regarding the retention of medical records and pathologic specimens. Generally for adults the period is seven years, but that may be longer depending on a lot of factors. Medicare is usually seven years too. If the pathologist has room he will often keep specimens for many years longer. The specimen is kept as a "block", and you or your lawyer can obtain a slice from that block for your own purposes. The block is yours although the pathologist is the custodian. If you have medical records that give you a specimen number or identification then you can ask the pathologist if he still has the block. It is worth a try, nine years isn't all that long.
Of course, the statute for filing a lawsuit for malpractice is lost, and you will have little luck overcoming it now.

I think I had better give you another thought on your case. Cancer, especially breast cancer, is not a clear cut diagnosis and treatment affair. If your wife did have a large tumor, depending on its character and type, location and presence of metastasis if any, and on the length of time she had the cancer, complete cure is possible by surgery and chemotherapy. While you may have some reason to question the diagnosis and need for surgery, you will not have an easy time proving that surgery was unwarranted. Breast cancer comes in many types, forms and the growing times are different for every type. Also, nine years ago the trend was for total removal of the offended part. Now lumpectomies seem to be popular. Medicine follows fads and maybe it will swing back to total mastectomy again, and probably will. So what is the "standard of care" today or yesterday may not be the standard tomorrow.
What I think you have to consider is that the vagaries of medical care will be a huge factor in your effort to get compensation even if the you think the surgery was unwarranted.