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VA Delayed Breast Cancer Diagnosis Leads To $7.5 Million Medical Malpractice Award

The Free Lance Star reports that a Spotsylvania Court jury has ruled in favor of a Virginia cancer victim in a medical malpractice case involving a missed breast cancer diagnosis.

In 2003, Eleanor Browder went to her doctor, Donna Gamache, with complaints of a lump in her right breast. A nurse practitioner at the Fredericksburg, VA, family practice did a mammogram of the breast, but Gamache did not order further tests, such as a biopsy or ultrasound, to find out what the lump was if it was indeed not a cancerous lump.

The lump grew to the size of a lemon before Browder returned to the doctor. By the time the cancer was found, it was Stage Four and incurable. She underwent a double mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy, but Browder's cancer spread to her stomach and brain and died a year ago. If her breast cancer had been treated earlier, she would have had a significantly greater chance of survival. Her husband and grown children pursued the medical malpractice case after her death.

The jury awarded $7.4 million to the family, although the medical malpractice cap at the time of the incident is $1.65 million. Gamache, who faced another major medical malpractice case in 2005 when she failed to diagnose a severe spinal condition in a patient, is not yet seeking an appeal.

The jury deliberated for five hours before coming to the decision to award Browder's family for economic loss, medical expenses, and solace. This was one of the largest medical malpractice settlements in the history of Virginia.

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