D&C did not avert endometrial cancer

OBG Management. 2006 January;18(01):66-72

January 1, 2006|ObGyn

Ocean County (NJ) Superior Court

A 64-year-old woman diagnosed with postmenopausal bleeding underwent a dilation and curettage (D&C) after several ultrasounds. (Results of the D&C were not reported.) Despite continued bleeding, no follow-up testing was done at 3 months.

At a return visit 14 months later, the woman was still bleeding. Tests revealed she had advanced endometrial cancer that had metastasized to her lungs and bones. She died 3 months later.

The claim was that the physician had removed an inadequate amount of tissue during the D&C.

The case settled for $400,000.

The cases in this column are selected by the editors of OBG Management from Medical Malpractice Verdicts, Settlements & Experts, with permission of the editor, Lewis Laska, of Nashville, Tenn (www.verdictslaska.com). The available information about the cases presented here is sometimes incomplete; thus, pertinent details of a given situation may be unavailable. Moreover, the cases may or may not have merit. Nevertheless, these cases represent the types of clinical situations that typically result in litigation and are meant to illustrate nationwide variation in jury verdicts and awards.

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