WRSMH attorney Jason Rubin secured a $925,000 settlement of a medical malpractice/wrongful death case arising out of the death of a 52-year-old married woman as a result of a delay in diagnosis of her cancer. Decedent underwent a hysterectomy due to pelvic pain in 2016, and the pathologist interpreted the tissue to contain benign, uterine fibroids. Approximately one year later, decedent had a recurrence of her pain and radiologic imaging revealed multiple pelvic masses. She underwent exploratory surgery and tissue specimens revealed that she had a high-grade malignant neoplasm, likely clear cell sarcoma. We claimed that the pathology specimens from the 2016 hysterectomy contained malignant tissue which should have been reported by the pathologist. The defendant pathologist contended that the malignant tissue on the specimen was merely a contamination or “floater” that occurred during the processing of the pathology slides. We countered this defense by demonstrating that proper procedures weren’t followed (i.e. DNA testing) to determine whether the alleged “floater” was, in fact, a floater.
