Breast Cancer

[AngieO'Plasty]

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

Spouse's mother passed away in 08/2007 from breast cancer. Spouse has recently noticed all the attention on the national news about hormone replacement therapy as a causative factor in some breast cancer cases. Spouse is interested in investigating this, as mother-in-law took high doses of HRT for multiple years prior to diagnosis.

(Mother-in-law did undergo testing, once diagnosis was confirmed, for BRCA1 and BRCA2, to ascertain risk for mother-in-law's siblings. BRCA1 & 2 were negative, which I realize doesn't eliminate the genetic component, but does lessen it, from my understanding.)

As mother-in-law passed away so long ago, would this even be viable at this point in time?

If so, what steps does spouse need to take? Spouse is mother-in-law's only child; mother-in-law was divorced at time of death. Would spouse then be legally able to obtain mother-in-law's medical records?

Once spouse has medical records, would spouse then simply contact a med mal attorney to evaluate the viability of a med mal claim?

Or would this be considered med mal? It seems more of an issue against a particular drug; would that still fall under med mal?

Thank you.

 

[Perky]

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

Spouse's mother passed away in 08/2007 from breast cancer. Spouse has recently noticed all the attention on the national news about hormone replacement therapy as a causative factor in some breast cancer cases. Spouse is interested in investigating this, as mother-in-law took high doses of HRT for multiple years prior to diagnosis.

(Mother-in-law did undergo testing, once diagnosis was confirmed, for BRCA1 and BRCA2, to ascertain risk for mother-in-law's siblings. BRCA1 & 2 were negative, which I realize doesn't eliminate the genetic component, but does lessen it, from my understanding.)

As mother-in-law passed away so long ago, would this even be viable at this point in time?

If so, what steps does spouse need to take? Spouse is mother-in-law's only child; mother-in-law was divorced at time of death. Would spouse then be legally able to obtain mother-in-law's medical records?

Once spouse has medical records, would spouse then simply contact a med mal attorney to evaluate the viability of a med mal claim?

Or would this be considered med mal? It seems more of an issue against a particular drug; would that still fall under med mal?

Thank you.

I think that before spouse has even obtained records, spouse should consult with the attorney. Texas has a 2 year statute of limitations. It's very likely that it's too late, but that may depend on when MIL began HRT, when breast cancer was diagnosed, as well as a number of other factors.

 

[ajkroy]

HRT has been known to be a factor in breast cancer for many years, regardless of all the recent news coverage.