Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Tennessee

cancer diagnosed too late

my step father had several trips to the doctor begining august of last year (2008). routine colonoscopy (came back normal) upper g.i. only found gastritis. he kept returning to the dr. complaining of abdominal pain and weight loss. second diagnosis chronic panceatitis. he was given enzymes to take. he began retaining fluid in his abdomen and started complaining of a new pain in his pelvic area and also still dealing with the pain in his abdomen. he was suppose to get some test ran b/c there was a mass found in the his pelvis on a ct scan no diagnostic test were ran to find out what the mass was. when he had appointments, they were scheduled for a month in advance and the whole time he was in severe pain, not eating and losing weight. he had 2 hosp. stays. the last stay the docs. ran blood test only. no biopsies of the lumps in his abdomen or pelvis. they told us the were 98% sure it was cancer. he stayed in the hospital for 1 week with no further test ran. We received no definite answers with anything until we took him to another hospital. when he was definitely diagnosed with pancreatic cancer it was to advanced. We feel that if the proper test were ran last yr. he may still be here. He died yesterday 4/19/09. lot of time wasted


Asked on 4/20/09, 12:04 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Marc Reisman Rosenblum & Reisman, P.C.

Re: cancer diagnosed too late

I would encourage you to speak with an attorney experienced in Medical Malpractice cases in the near future. Two of the many questions that will have to be answered are (1) did the various doctors deviate from the standard of care applicable in the community in failing to timely diagnose the cancer; and (2) if they had timely diagnosed, would that have made a difference? Could they have treated him earlier and saved or prolonged his life? Under TN law, only a qualified expert can answer these questions, specifically a medical doctor. An attorney will be able to run the facts past a physician and get a reasonable opinion as to whether the answer to these questions is "yes." Please be aware that there are strict notice requirements and filing deadlines involved in cases of this nature and you will need to speak to an attorney about these requirements. We can not advise you on this posting as to when those dates expire and, in fact, we do not give any legal advice on this forum. I hope the general information above is helpful, but please do not rely on any portion of this posting as we would need to know much more before providing any legal advice.

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Answered on 4/20/09, 12:36 pm


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