She was a young woman.
With two small children.
She went to her gynecologist.
For a routine checkup.
She had to get a Pap smear.
Her doctor told her the results were not good.
He told her she had cancer.
Uterine cancer.
He told her that if she did not have surgery to remove her uterus, she would die.
He told her he did not want to see her little kids grow up without their mother.
She trusted him.
She believed in her gynecologist.
He had never steered her wrong before.
She agreed to have the surgery.
The surgery went well.
After the pathology report came back, he told her the great news.
She no longer had cancer.
She asked what the pathology report showed about what he took out.
He told her there was no evidence of cancer anywhere.
“Why then did you remove my uterus and tell me I needed a hysterectomy?”
He gave her many excuses for that question.
Turns out, this young woman never had cancer of any type.
Her gynecologist misinterpreted the Pap smear results.
Her gynecologist failed to do further GYN testing such as a cone biopsy which would have assisted him in coming to the correct diagnosis.
He failed to do this.
When I sent this patient's medical records to my gynecological expert, he could not understand how any doctor could have concluded that this patient had uterine cancer. The Pap smear simply made a suggestion of abnormal cells.
The next step to evaluate that abnormality was to do a cone biopsy.
This would have obtained specific tissue that when looked at under the microscope by a pathologist, would have revealed that they were normal.
Had he done this, there would have been no need to recommend a hysterectomy.
The sad reality is that this woman wanted to have more children.
This case went to trial.
In the Bronx.
The defense refused to acknowledge that the patient's gynecologist did anything wrong.
The defense refused to acknowledge that even if the doctor did something wrong, it did not cause this patient's injuries.
The defense also argued that even if the doctor did something wrong and caused her harm, her injuries were not as bad as she claimed them to be.
To learn even more, I invite you to watch the quick video below...
