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Trial Team of Peter Meyer and Rose Joly Obtain Jury Verdict on Behalf of Sulloway Client

Plaintiffs brought suit in New Hampshire Superior Court for alleged negligent failure by a radiologist to order sufficient mammography imaging views to constitute a diagnostic mammogram as ordered by the referring PCP. Suit was also brought against the primary care physicians alleging failure to follow up on radiology studies and the patient’s complaint of a breast lump. The defendants denied any breach in the standard of care, and submitted evidence through radiology and breast cancer experts that the lump the patient felt two years prior to diagnosis (in the same quadrant as the cancer that was ultimately diagnosed) was not the cancer with which she was diagnosed and which later metastasized. The radiology opinions were aided by the use of imaging that clearly showed an area of concern at the time of diagnosis but none at the time the patient first reported a lump. The defense radiology expert also established that a diagnostic mammogram does not require supplemental views beyond the standard mammography views, particularly when an ultrasound is also performed. The oncology opinions were based upon the biology of the cancer. Specifically, the evidence submitted was that the cancer was highly prolific, such that if the lump the patient had felt earlier had been this cancer, it would have grown much larger much more quickly and would have metastasized well before it did. At the time of trial, the plaintiffs’ demand was $1.95 million. The jury returned a unanimous verdict for the defendants in less than 1 hour.