Our client died partially as a result of a missed diagnosis of lung cancer by Defendant doctors. Before the completion of the defense case during the trial, we settled for $1.225 million.
In March of 2009, our client received a chest x-ray (CXR) taken as part of a routine physical exam at Bridgewater Medical Group. The x-ray was sent to Associated Radiology, where certified radiologist, Dr. Terry, read the CXR and determined that he saw “nodularity” in the lower lobe of the right lung. He presumed it to be a nipple shadow and wrote that it “could” be confirmed by a repeat exam using nipple markers. The report was returned to ordering internist Dr. Lytle, who did not feel it reported an abnormality and never informed the patient of the findings. In September of 2011, the client had a CT scan taken as a result of complaints of a mass in the area of the right clavicle, which demonstrated a large mass in the right lower lobe of the right lung. A follow-up MRI showed a lesion on the brain, leaving the patient with stage 4 lung cancer and no chance of survival. In December of 2012 the client was diagnosed with a second “primary” cancer in the right kidney. The client died in June of 2013 of kidney failure cause by “primary renal cancer.”
Plaintiffs brought suit against Dr. Lytle for violating the standard of care in failing to follow up the abnormality in 2009, along with Dr. Terry for misinterpreting the CXR and failing to use appropriate language to convey that a follow up “should” be conducted. Furthermore, plaintiffs conducted independent pathological testing which refuted the Robert Wood Johnson Hospital finding of a second primary tumor and discovered that the kidney mass was in fact a metastasis of the lung cancer.
The case was tried by Jim Martin before Judge Vincent LeBlon in Middlesex County, NJ over the course of four weeks and was settled prior to the end of the defense case. Princeton Medical Insurance Company paid $1,225,000 on behalf of Dr. Lytle. Dr. Terry, Associated Radiology, and Bridgewater Medical Group did not contribute to the settlement.
Defendant Lytle was represented by Jeffrey Krompier of Krompier & Tamm and Bridgewater Medical Group by David Donahue of Farkas & Donahue Esq’s. Dr Terry was represented by Justin Johnson of Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin.
