A 50-year-old Long Island woman has been awarded $15 million in a malpractice lawsuit after her doctors failed to initially detect her breast cancer.

The mother of three went to her doctor’s office in 2002 after noticing a lump in her breast. She underwent a mammogram,  and her doctor deemed that the area was not malignant, and that she did not have breast cancer. She was told to return for an annual mammogram in a year. When she returned, the lump had grown in size and a different doctor determined that she had breast cancer.

Chemotherapy and a mastectomy followed the diagnosis. She went into remission for a short period of time, and that is when she filed the malpractice lawsuit against her doctor. The jury in her case decided that the doctor did act negligently in his misdiagnosis, and awarded the woman $15 million in damages. The cancer returned, and has spread to her bones. She will most likely undergo chemotherapy treatments for the rest of her life in order to combat the cancer.

If you have breast cancer, and your condition was initially misdiagnosed, please contact the Philadelphia breast cancer lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. by calling today.

Last month, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7-0 in an appeal from a 73-year old woman with breast cancer.  The court agreed that a malignant cancer growth is an injury that can be awarded damages for emotional distress in medical malpractice lawsuits.

The woman is now able to pursue a lawsuit against the doctor that failed to detect a cancerous mass in her breast when she went in for annual screenings.  The lawsuit names Dr. Richard Patterson and Reflections Breast Health Center as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, the woman went to Patterson for annual screenings beginning in 1997.  In 2004, in a self-examination, the woman discovered she had a mass in her breast and tests revealed it had been there for three years.

As a result of the missed diagnosis, the cancer was able to spread and the woman had to have 8 lymph nodes surgically removed, in addition to chemotherapy and radiation treatments.  She is suing for more than $25,000.

If you or someone you love has had misdiagnosed or mistreated breast cancer, contact the Philadelphia breast cancer lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at and set up an appointment to meet with one of our experienced and compassionate attorneys.