Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Massachusetts

My legal question has to do with a misdiagnosis of cancer that occured last October 2008, and whether i have a case to pursue a lawsuit against the hospital and as well as the doctors involved. Here is a quick summary of events that occured: I discovered a lump on my left thigh and went to have it looked at by my primary care physician, he thought it was a cyst and order an ultrasound to be done in order to get a better understanding of what it might be and he referred me to a local surgeon. The ultrasound did not reveal what it might be other then it being a mass, and the ultrasound team could not make up what exactly the lump was. When i went to see the surgeon he quickly examined it and proceeded to insist it was most likely as cyst and he scheduled me for a day surgery for a week later (no further scans or biopsy's were ordered to obtain a better understanding of what it might be.) On the day of the surgery, i had the scheduled surgery and after the completion and i came out of anesthesia, and the surgeon seemed spooked and unclear of what it was he removed, soon after i felt fluid underneath my sheets and looked and there was blood pouring out of my leg. I was then rushed in for a second surgery to stop the bleeding. After th second surgery they believed they had stopped the bleeding the surgeon left the hospital and they prepared to send me home. After insisting several times, the nurse staff decided it was the best idea to not send me home and to have the surgeon take a look at it again. After the surgeon arrived back to the hospital he notice he did not stop the bleeding and my leg was filling with blood and was swelling up. After the third surgery of the day, I was admitted for the night and had a drain placed in my leg to collect the excess blood. The drain was left in my leg for another week, i had a few visits with the surgeon between the day the results from the lab came back, the drain was removed that day. The surgeon informed that what his original thought was just a cyst, was actually a cancerous tumor. A day after I got the diagnosis i had to go to the ER and was admitted for a day due to infection of the surgery site, and had to have a surgeon open the incision to clean the infection. After these events, i became a patient at a cancer clinic in Boston and had to undergo another surgery to properly remove the cancer and the surrounding tissues, followed by 35 sessions of radiation, and 6 sessions of chemotherepy to get rid of the cancer and to try to prevent it from returning. I am now 9 months out of treatment with no sign of cancer. The case that i beleive i have is with the misdiagnosis and the original surgeries. I believe that more tests should have been ordered and a biopsy should have definitely been ordered prior to the first surgery instead of going blindly inside my leg with just a guess of what it might be. When the surgeon imporerly removed the tumor and caused bleeding and infection at the tumor site, this can cause the cancer cells to spread more freely and increases the chances of the cancer reappearing somewhere else in my body. After talking to some people in the medical community it was their belief that the surgeon knew it was a tumor and knew it was cancerous when he open my leg and saw it. Instead of closing my leg and referrring me to a surgeon who deals with tumors on a regular basis, he removed the tumor improperly and increased the chances of the cancer spreading throughout my body by the bleeding and the infection. I also went through chemotherapy only because of the improper removal, bleeding, and infection. If i had the tumor removed properly at the start my oncologist said, "i would most likely only have to have surgery and radiation". Due to the bleeding and infection the team at the clinic recomended chemotherapy. Thank you for reading over my story, and i would appreaciate any insite in this matter, as i do believe a have a medical malpractice case against the hosipital aswell as the surgeon involved in the original surgeries.


Asked on 3/25/10, 6:51 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Christopher Earley Law Office of Christopher Earley

Hi -

I am sorry to hear about all of this. I would be happy to give you a free telephone consultation. Thank you.

Chris Earley

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Answered on 3/30/10, 7:27 am


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