The doctors – along with the Queens Long Island Medical Group -- were targets of the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in Nassau County, N.Y., Supreme Court.
The patient, a 70-year-old retired engineer from North Massapequa, N.Y., who died in 2009, was known to take preventive health seriously and to be diligent in following up with his doctors, said Allan Zelikovic, Esq., the family’s attorney and head of Weitz & Luxenberg’s Medical Malpractice unit.
The family’s ordeal began in 2007, when the man went for his annual physical exam and was referred for a colonoscopy to be screened for colon cancer. He was instructed to call for a follow-up appointment, which he did, and was seen almost three weeks later, the medical malpractice attorney explained.
“At that appointment, he was given a clean bill of health, despite the fact that, earlier, the pathology lab had both phoned-in and faxed to the medical group a ‘panic report’ indicating that the patient had colon cancer,” Mr. Zelikovic said. “The defendants claimed they called the patient and told him to come back, but that he did not. However, no letters advising him of the urgency of his situation were ever sent. Nor were any follow-up phone calls made to him.”
Over the course of the next 18 months, the man visited the facility 25 times and was seen by doctors for routine checkups and treatment of other illnesses, but on none of those occasions was he told of the cancer – even though that information had been permanently added to his chart and passed through the hands of multiple clinicians and support personnel, Mr. Zelikovic indicated.
“Not until he went to a local hospital’s emergency room did he first learn of the existence of the cancer, by then in an advanced stage,” said Mr. Zelikovic. “The emergency-room staff could not understand how this diagnosis had been missed. Unfortunately, given the advanced stage of the cancer, the patient succumbed during this hospitalization. There was no excuse for missing the cancer at Stage I, when it was at its most treatable. This man had his life cut short by medical malpractice, pure and simple.”
An active lifestyler, the man was survived by his wife of almost 50 years, with whom he had planned to enjoy a comfortable retirement. Also left behind were his adult daughter and handicapped granddaughter for whom he had been devotedly filling the role of father figure since his son’s death.
Said Mr. Zelikovic, “He drove five miles each way, every weekday, to his granddaughter’s house, just to get her on and off the school bus. That little girl is now completely deprived of that kind of exceptionally caring attention and of the only male figure in her life.”
The family sought multimillion-dollar damages for the man’s death, their pain and suffering, loss of companionship and other claims.
Nicholas Wise, Esq., another Weitz & Luxenberg medical malpractice lawyer who was assigned to the case as a trial attorney, said that the jury had been selected and the parties were set to proceed with the trial, but then the defendants folded. “They were facing an incredibly tough sell in court,” Mr. Wise offered. “Juries tend to not have much sympathy for medical carelessness of this magnitude.”
About Weitz & Luxenberg
Founded in 1986 by attorneys Perry Weitz and Arthur Luxenberg, Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C., today ranks among the nation’s leading law firms. Weitz & Luxenberg’s numerous litigation areas include: mesothelioma, defective medicine and devices, environmental pollutants, accidents, personal injury, and medical malpractice. Victims of accidents are invited to rely on Weitz & Luxenberg’s more than 25 years of handling such cases – begin by contacting the firm’s Client Relations department at 1-800-476-6070 or at clientrelations@weitzlux.com and ask for a free legal consultation. More information: www.weitzlux.com
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