undiagnosed brain tumor

[Luigirex1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? nj

i have never been involved in any legal action before so i could use some advice as to whether or not i should pursue something here.

about a year ago i went to see a dr. because i was having dizzy spells. the dr. i saw was actually a resident at the family clinic adjacent to the hospital. she did some bloodwork, gave me some meclizine, and sent me on my way. on the way out i stopped to make a follow up appt with the receptionist and was told that dr. was not on the schedule for some reason for the next few months and i should call back.

months went by and i never heard anything about the bloodwork. the dizzy spells went away and i forgot all about it.

about a year later the dizzy spells came back. that's when i realized i had never heard anything about the bloodwork results. i made an appt with a new dr.'s office. i had the other office fax over the results from the previous year.

as soon as the new dr. looked at the results she was astonished that i had never been notified of the EXTREMELY high level of prolactin detected. she suspected a pituitary adenoma, sent me for an mri, and sure enough i have a "massive" mass in my brain.

should i pursue any sort of legal action against the hospital/clinic and/or dr. that i saw last year for NEVER notifying me of the results, which put off my diagnosis for a whole year? i don't have a lot of money so i could only afford this if i have a good chance of winning.

thanks for any help.

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? nj

i have never been involved in any legal action before so i could use some advice as to whether or not i should pursue something here.

about a year ago i went to see a dr. because i was having dizzy spells. the dr. i saw was actually a resident at the family clinic adjacent to the hospital. she did some bloodwork, gave me some meclizine, and sent me on my way. on the way out i stopped to make a follow up appt with the receptionist and was told that dr. was not on the schedule for some reason for the next few months and i should call back.

months went by and i never heard anything about the bloodwork. the dizzy spells went away and i forgot all about it.

about a year later the dizzy spells came back. that's when i realized i had never heard anything about the bloodwork results. i made an appt with a new dr.'s office. i had the other office fax over the results from the previous year.

as soon as the new dr. looked at the results she was astonished that i had never been notified of the EXTREMELY high level of prolactin detected. she suspected a pituitary adenoma, sent me for an mri, and sure enough i have a "massive" mass in my brain.

should i pursue any sort of legal action against the hospital/clinic and/or dr. that i saw last year for NEVER notifying me of the results, which put off my diagnosis for a whole year? i don't have a lot of money so i could only afford this if i have a good chance of winning.

thanks for any help.

Did you ever call to follow up with the tests?

By all means have an initial consult with a medmal attorney; if you have a case they will take it on a contingency basis.

 

[Isis1]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? nj

i have never been involved in any legal action before so i could use some advice as to whether or not i should pursue something here.

about a year ago i went to see a dr. because i was having dizzy spells. the dr. i saw was actually a resident at the family clinic adjacent to the hospital. she did some bloodwork, gave me some meclizine, and sent me on my way. on the way out i stopped to make a follow up appt with the receptionist and was told that dr. was not on the schedule for some reason for the next few months and i should call back.

months went by and i never heard anything about the bloodwork. the dizzy spells went away and i forgot all about it.

about a year later the dizzy spells came back. that's when i realized i had never heard anything about the bloodwork results. i made an appt with a new dr.'s office. i had the other office fax over the results from the previous year.

as soon as the new dr. looked at the results she was astonished that i had never been notified of the EXTREMELY high level of prolactin detected. she suspected a pituitary adenoma, sent me for an mri, and sure enough i have a "massive" mass in my brain.

should i pursue any sort of legal action against the hospital/clinic and/or dr. that i saw last year for NEVER notifying me of the results, which put off my diagnosis for a whole year? i don't have a lot of money so i could only afford this if i have a good chance of winning.

thanks for any help.

it never occured to you to call yourself once you a week or two after the intial test?

my doctor's office calls all the time. i am never home. for some reason, they never leave messages. and always call from a blocked number. so i'll never know they called while i was out.

you do have some responsibility for your own health you know.

 

[tranquility]

See an attorney immediately. A good med/mal attorney will give you guidance on if you have a case. Elevated prolactin alone may not be enough to be malpractice, but, I don't know anything about it. Since you may have severe damages, an attorney may take your case with some risk to winning. However, only go with contingency--that will be how you know if you have a case. If the attorney wants you to pay anything, thank him and move on.

 

[Luigirex1]

no, i never called to follow up with the results.

and yes, i am aware that i have responsibility for my own health, thank you. i was simply asking for advice on whether or not the dr. did something wrong that i should pursue. if you feel that they did not, fine, that's all you have to say.

i never called because i assumed that if i didn't hear anything it meant there was nothing to report, that everything was normal. i have never had any medical issues before, i didn't know that i should call. i would have thought they might have said "call us if you haven't heard from us in x number of days" or something.

 

[Proserpina]

no, i never called to follow up with the results.

and yes, i am aware that i have responsibility for my own health, thank you. i was simply asking for advice on whether or not the dr. did something wrong that i should pursue. if you feel that they did not, fine, that's all you have to say.

i never called because i assumed that if i didn't hear anything it meant there was nothing to report, that everything was normal. i have never had any medical issues before, i didn't know that i should call. i would have thought they might have said "call us if you haven't heard from us in x number of days" or something.

No, it's up to you to call and check on the results if you haven't heard anything. By all means though, get your medical records and have a medmal attorney (or two) look at them.

 

[ecmst12]

How quickly does this tumor grow? How much bigger do they think it has gotten in the past year and how will that change the course of treatment that you need now as opposed to what they would have done if they'd found the tumor sooner?

 

[tranquility]

With a quick glace on-line, early is very treatable to the point some studies mention "cure".

 

[ecmst12]

Well if OP was not having any significant symptoms, it's possible that even a year later it still qualifies as "early".

 

[tranquility]

and sure enough i have a "massive" mass in my brain.

Unlikely as doctors are usually careful with words when they're dealing with brain tumors.

 

[ecmst12]

And "massive" isn't a term normally used by doctors since it is so imprecise. And size isn't the only important factor with a brain tumor, it also depends whether it is an invasive tumor, and whether it is pressing on anything vital.

 

[Luigirex1]

well they used the word "massive" in the report, that's why i used it.

sounds like the consensus is that there's probably no real case against anyone. that's fine, that's all i wanted to know. i didn't really need anyone to pick apart my diagnosis for me.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

sounds like the consensus is that there's probably no real case against anyone.

I didn't see a consensus, especially when tranquility's first reponse was "See an attorney immediately"

I agree with this advice, but didn't feel it was necessary to repeat it. Now I do.

 

[ecmst12]

Well, the questions I asked are pretty important ones which can determine if you have a case. If the medical consensus is that the delay didn't cause you too much harm, then the legal consensus will be that there isn't much of a case.

 

[lealea1005]

From what OP stated, a resident from a teaching program provided treatment. That resident's work was under the direct supervision of an attending Physician who should have reviewed, then signed off on the resident's notes/labs/treatment plan/etc.

Seeing that it was a teaching program and residents rotate through the clinics, OP's follow up appointment should have been made with one of the other residents (or the resident filling the spot) who should have confirmed the lab results and ordered an MRI.

ETA: Normally, a prolactin level would not be ordered unless the Physician suspects something more than the ususal dizziness/headache patient. There must have been something in OP's neurological exam which raised suspicion that needed to be ruled out. Therefore, IMHO, some one should have been on the lookout for OP's results, or OP's chart should have been tagged.