Confidential
Settlement – $450,000Court
L.A. Superior Pasadena
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Facts
According to the plaintiff: The plaintiff alleged that in November 1998, after feeling a lump in her breast, she
went in for surgical consultation. The surgeon performed a fine needle aspiration biopsy and sent the sample to
the defendants for interpretation. The defendants read the specimen as positive for ductal carcinoma. Their
report was furnished to the surgeon, who recommended mastectomy.
The plaintiff was then referred to a different surgeon, who told her that she had malignant cancer and that she
needed a modified radical mastectomy. After undergoing this procedure, the breast sample was analyzed by the
same pathologist who had reviewed the fine needle aspiration. He then reported the plaintiffÆs true condition
was in fact a malignant lymphoma and not malignant ductal carcinoma.
The plaintiff was then referred to several oncologist, who told her that the treatment for lymphoma would have
been chemotherapy followed by radiation rather than modified radical mastectomy. The defendant pathologist
contended that even with a diagnosis of lymphoma, given the size and location of the tumor, the plaintiff may
have opted for mastectomy in any event.
Specials in Evidence
$17,995 $80,000 $2 million $10,000
Damages
The plaintiff claimed a loss of earnings as a self-employed international marketing executive. The plaintiff was born and educated and worked in her home country of China before being transferred to the U.S., where she worked as the local managing director of a California corporation created by the Chinese government. She had been self-employed for approximately two years prior to the incident, but since her business was still in the start-up phase, she had very little actual earnings and her claim was based primarily on loss of business opportunities.
Injuries
Loss of breast, disfigurement, mental and emotional distress.
Other Information
<M>A mediation was held before Arleigh M. Woods.</M>
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