$1,000,000 Settlement for Failure to Diagnose Tumor/Delay in Treatment

Ms. Forte represented a client who was incorrectly diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy by his primary care doctor. Our client’s facial droop was actually caused by a tumor that was pressing on a facial nerve. When the condition persisted, a CT scan of the brain was ordered, which was wrongly interpreted as a normal scan, with the radiologist failing to see the tumor that was present. Both the primary care doctor and the radiologist contributed to the delay in diagnosis, which was over two years. Although at the time the patient first went to the doctor with the facial droop the tumor was already considered to be Stage 4, Carol successfully argued that while the tumor was already advanced, even the small chance of long term cure was taken from our client because of the delay. The case resolved for one million dollars.