$450,000 Settlement for Unnecessary Surgery / Cancer Misdiagnosis

Attorney Michael Zerres, a Blume Donnelly partner, recently won a $450,000 settlement for a man who was told he had lung cancer when he actually did not.

The case involved a 68 year-old carpenter who had a long history of cigarette smoking and went to a New Jersey hospital Emergency Room suffering from hemoptysis (spitting up blood).

The emergency room doctor conducted a fine needle aspiration biopsy, which was reported positive for adenocarcinoma. As a result, the patient underwent surgery to remove the two upper lobes of the affected lung.

When the lung tissue was removed, it was discovered that the patient did not have cancer, and that the original biopsy was misread. The unnecessary surgery resulted in a permanent decrease in the patient’s pulmonary function.