Brett A. Panter represented a loving wife and personal representative of the estate of Chad*, her husband. The couple had been married for 50 years before tragedy struck.
Cancer, when detected early in many cases, can be treated and lead to a full, normal, and healthy life. However, when cancer is undetected it can lead to terrible results including death. The failure to diagnose cancer in some cases may be medical negligence. Our firm has been retained to investigate the failure to diagnose cancer in many cases, and we have successfully taken on many different defendants to prove negligence and seek compensation for our clients.
In this matter, the defendants were a diagnostic center and a medical director at the diagnostic center who is referred to as a radiologist.
Unfortunately, Mr. Chad died within a year of the failure to diagnose his cancer, and while hospitalized, he was unable to breathe and was required to be on a ventilator. Not only did he suffer, but his family suffered watching his agonizing death.
The main issue in the case was a renal ultrasound done in June 2021. The doctor, as is often the case, relies on the technician’s observations. The ultrasound showed something that should have raised a red flag and prompted the doctor to suggest in her report that further testing was needed. This did not occur and this was the first stage of failure and medical negligence discovered by Brett Panter and his team of experts and nurses.
The ultrasound done in June 2021 showed something obvious on the left kidney. Mr. Panter retained a world-renowned radiology expert to review the films. The process of reviewing the films requires that the expert review them without any other medical records to not be prejudiced in any way in his review and analysis of the studies.
The negligence, in this case, was that the diagnostic center and the doctor failed to recognize a 7.2 cm x 4.8 cm x 3.2 cm mass in the upper pole of the left kidney, which was suspicious for malignancy. This caused a delay in the diagnosis and treatment, and eventually led to Mr. Chad’s death. This treatment was found to be below the standard of care which means medical negligence was committed and was a direct cause of Mr. Chad’s death. Nine months later in March of 2022, a CT scan of his abdomen was done and it was noted that in the left kidney, there was evidence of mass-like irregularity in the upper pole, now measuring 6 x 6 cm, with a large amount of hemorrhage and a dilated intrarenal collecting system and in the ureter to the level of the urinary bladder. This was a terrible finding and at this point, it was too late to treat and save Mr. Chad.
There were massive medical expenses, and Brett Panter and his firm were able to settle the case for an undisclosed amount of compensation. No amount of money would bring back Mr. Chad, and the only remedy the family had was through a civil claim. The claim was handled by Brett Panter on behalf of the Law Firm of Panter, Panter & Sampedro, and the matter was settled to its conclusion.
*Names have been changed to protect confidentiality.
