Confidential
Settlement – $1,000,000Court
L.A. Superior Santa Monica
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Experts
Plaintiff
Brian Brenner
(medical)
Melvin Krause
(medical)
Marianne Inouye MBA
(technical)
Donald J. Schiller
(medical)
Steven Armentrout
(medical)
Defendant
Marvin L. Corman
(medical)
Gregory C. Greaney
(medical)
Bradley Monk
(medical)
Robert R. Johnson
(medical)
David J. Weiner M.B.A., AM
(technical)
Parakrama Tissa Chandrasoma
(medical)
Peter Boasberg
(medical)
Michael B. Van Scoy-Mosher M.D.
(medical)
Facts
In May 1999, the plaintiff complained to the defendant family practitioner that she had been having frank rectal bleeding with each bowel movement. On two prior occasions in the early 1990s, she had some rectal bleeding lasting a couple of weeks at a time, stopping coincident with local treatment for hemorrhoids. In May 1999, the family practitioner noted external hemorrhoids but no bleeding from them, treated the plaintiff for the hemorrhoids and when the bleeding did not stop, the family practitioner referred her to the defendant for colorectal surgery. The family practitioner never ordered or performed any tests designed to evaluate any other source of rectal bleeding besides hemorrhoids. The family practitioner told the plaintiff that her bleeding was from hemorrhoids. From September 1999 through early March 2000, the defendant colorectal surgeon examined the plaintiff four times, on two occasions performing hemorrhoidal banding. He also told the plaintiff that her bleeding was from hemorrhoids though he never observed the hemorrhoids bleeding and though his only evaluation of the rest of the colon was an anoscopic examination, which visualizes only the last 1-2 inches of the rectum. Between March 2000 and May 2003, the plaintiff continued to have bleeding, though less than was present before hemorrhoidal banding. She noted intermittent mild rectal bleeding about twice every month which she believed was from hemorrhoids, as both of her physicians had told her this was the cause. In September 2003, because of an increase in the bleeding, the plaintiff revisited the colorectal surgeon who performed a colonoscopy which revealed to him no significant pathology. In April, the plaintiff complained of weakness, nausea, diarrhea and abdominal pain. An ultrasound examination showed an abdomen studded with metastatic cancer, involving most of the peritoneum, with a large lump on one ovary. A gynecological oncology surgeon performed a pelvic exenteration on the plaintiff and burned off dozens of peritoneal cancer implants. At a pathological examination of the exenteration specimen, the primary cancer was found to be colonic, not ovarian in origin, to be about 7 cm in largest dimension and to originate from the colorectum presumably about 10 cm in from the anus, a spot easily visualized with any sigmoidoscopic procedure. Over the past 18 months, the plaintiff has undergone aggressive chemotherapy. In the last four months, the cancer has been found in multiple lung metastases and in the pleura. Further chemotherapy has had some response but the patient's life expectancy was a matter of months when the case filed. The plaintiff sought an expedited trial in June 2004 after filing the case at the end of May 2004 and the judge set the trial date for Nov. 8, 2004.
Settlement Discussions
The case was resolved at a settlement conference with Michael Moorehead, as mediator. The settlement was for $1 million ($200,000 from the family practitioner and $800,000 from the colorectal surgeon). This settlement covered the negligence action by the plaintiff, the loss of consortium action by the plaintiff's husband, and all future wrongful death claims by the plaintiff's husband or 8-year-old son.
Damages
The failure to diagnose and treat colon cancer.
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