In late April, Carol Renna was awarded $400,000 by a jury in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The lawsuit derived from multiple visits made by the plaintiff to different doctors. Ms. Renna wanted to have two large masses in her breasts examined. Medical malpractice lawyers believe that this is an extreme case of negligence because if the problem is not properly detected, breast cancer is often deadly.
Medical Malpractice Lawyers Argue the Necessity of a Follow-Up
Ms. Renna originally found two masses in her breast in April of 2004. She visited her primary care physician but was soon referred to Dr. Mark Schadt. In the month following Renna’s discovery, Schadt conducted a fine-needle aspiration biopsy in an effort to determine whether cysts in the breast were cancerous. The initial results came back negative. The fine-needle aspiration biopsy is acceptable for some women in particular cases, but more extensive examinations such as a core-needle biopsy or an open biopsy are often necessary.
The following March, Renna returned and was once again given a fine-needle aspiration. Unlike her previous test however, these results came back positive for cancer. In April of 2005, the plaintiff underwent an excisional biopsy, which entails removing cysts and other surrounding area. Following the more invasive biopsy, Renna learned that she had invasive carcinoma stage III. Following this traumatic and shocking discovery, Renna was forced to undergo a simple mastectomy on her left breast and a radical mastectomy performed on her right breast. Medical malpractice laywers point out that a competent doctor should have followed up the initial fine-needle aspiration biopsy with a more complete biopsy to test a large sample of tissue.
Medical Malpractice Lawyers in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If you have recently undergone a procedure and you are still in pain that you believe may be attributed to negligence, it is possible that you have questions that only medical malpractice lawyers can answer. Please contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation, or call for a free consultation at 856-833-0600 in New Jersey, or 215-567-2380 in Philadelphia.