Suit possible? Which place too?

[jmesfv]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Hospital in Las Vegas but originally started at a hospital in Arizona... please read on...

I will TRY to make this as short as possible but enough details to get an answer.

I'm inquiring for my mother basically as it was her brother. LONG LONG story and medical history short... he had been in and out of hosptials in Arizona (Bullhead City and Fort Mohave) for constant various issues - stomach pains, skin breakouts, sodium issues, bowel problems, etc. You name it he probably experienced it at one time or another. One day it got so bad he landed back in the hosptial in Arizona and they finally said there was no way they could treat him (he was just released days prior) and transferred him to Las Vegas. After tons and TONS of tests they come up with that there is probably pancreotic cancer (however you spell it). They tried everything to get a biopsy but due to shrapnol in his head they couldn't do an MRI and the other tests weren't successful. They were considering doing an 8 hour operation of such high risk to just get a piece to see what it was and then the night before he had a heartattack and ended up in surgery for a 5-bipass surgery on his heart. He survived that, barely. We're talking weeks in the hospital. The VA is saying they don't want to pay anymore because there doesn't seem to be anything to be done. The doctor there said he knows he's not healthy enough but the VA says if he can walk he can leave. Which finally after a week in ICU and such he finally was able to walk to the bathroom so they made his daughter make other arrangments. He went into a skilled nursing facility or something like that. He lived about 2 or 3 weeks more and died a horrible painful death.
My mother retrieved his medical records from the hosptials prior to all this and every single scan/test/report stated reference to "a mass" but no one EVER mentioned this to anyone... we're talking years worth of these reports and it wasn't until he landed in vegas did we even know of such a problem. Had we known maybe it could've been prevented. The death certiifcate states his death was from pancreotic cancer even though it was never fully proven. Someone somewhere dropped a ball.... shouldn't someone pay for this error???? Can we pursue it? Should we? How????? Thanks.

 

[ecmst12]

They would have been able to biopsy and determine if cancer was present at the autopsy. Pancreatic cancer is very aggressive and deadly, and it sounds like he was not very healthy to begin with.

Can you give us some idea of a timeline from his first complaints/doctor visits until his death?

 

[lya]

The mass was in every single report and film so it was definitely 'told' to someone--like everyone who read the reports. The OP's mother was most likely not in the exam room or involved in the conversations between MD and patient and therefore not privy to what was or was not discussed.

There is no reason to believe having a definitive diagnosis of pancreatic cancer would have made a difference.

I doubt there is an attorney who would be interested in reviewing the records of a chronically ill man with heart problems and possible pancreatic cancer; but, the OP's mother may surely call and consult with medmal attorneys in each state the patient was treated and with attorneys who feel like taking on the US governement dba the VA.

 

[jmesfv]

from my knowledge

As far as I know my uncle (patient) and my mother (caretaker) was always in the room together. Mainly because my mother always wanted to hear what the doctor's told him because he had a habit of not revealing things to her in the past.

If we could find a lawyer who would take the case is it cause for malpractice or wrongful death?

 

[jmesfv]

oh and

there was no biopsy done (his daughter and my mother's decision). That's why we were surprised it was stated that way on the death certificate being that it had not officially been proven but was only likely.

 

[lya]

there was no biopsy done (his daughter and my mother's decision). That's why we were surprised it was stated that way on the death certificate being that it had not officially been proven but was only likely.

Autopsies do not rely on biopsy results. The organs are there, plain as day, available for evaluation and examination that you do not even want to know about.

There is no medmal case here, not wrongful death, not medical malpractice.

A sick, elderly man died and is no longer suffering. His sister, however, is suffering. The best thing you can do for her is help her to accept his death as being as it should be instead of feeding the 'blame others' stage of grieving.

 

[jmesfv]

Autopsies do not rely on biopsy results. The organs are there, plain as day, available for evaluation and examination that you do not even want to know about.

There is no medmal case here, not wrongful death, not medical malpractice.

A sick, elderly man died and is no longer suffering. His sister, however, is suffering. The best thing you can do for her is help her to accept his death as being as it should be instead of feeding the 'blame others' stage of grieving.

I didn't mean autopsy, got all confused. they were never able to get a biopsy of the mass to determine if cancer, sorry for mess up. side note - autopsy wasn't done either.
Really no suit? Had they ever told anyone there was a mass on all the tests/scans don't you think it could have been treated and prevented? Each scan/test showed an increase in size each time one was done following a prior one. Had they spoke up when it was small enough it could've been treated? Yes he had other medical complications but those weren't the cause of his death... the mass was.
Thanks for your input and time to dicuss this with me.

 

[lya]

Pancreatic cancer has the lowest survival chance of any cancer. Cancer of the pancreas is difficult to diagnose even with optimum testing availability.

Removing a small pancreatic cancerous tumor may increase the survival rate by a few years and may not. That is because cancer of the pancreas does not confine itself to one place and rarely does removing one tumor/mass equal removing all tumors/masses.

Personally, I think the gentleman was spared quite a bit of agony from knowing he had cancer and having to deal with that knowledge and was spared from agonizing, futile treatment as it appears he would have had little choice but to go the distance with surgery and chemotherapy.

Help your mother accept her brother's death and move through the process of grieving. For her own mental health, she must get to the point of accepting his death for what it is--a more gentle and peaceful exit than he would have had.

That being said, only a review of the medical records for the past five or six years would answer your questions about if the finding was incorporated into his treatment or if it was negligent to not incorporate and treat the same. Whether or not significant damages resulted from not treating is another queston, one that I believe would have the answer of, "no".