Plaintiff Died After Failure To Diagnose Multiple Myeloma
| In March 2001, plaintiff’s decedent James Fairhurst, 64, retired Air Force sergeant, went to the Eglin Air Force Base hospital, complaining about a urinary tract infection and back pain. Fairhurst had suffered from these infections since the early 1990s that were often accompanied by back pain. Fairhurst was treated at Eglin through May. When an intravenous pyelogram–an X-ray of the urinary tract–came back with abnormal readings, Fairhurst had CT scans performed at a local civilian hospital on May 23. The CT scan returned a result consistent with multiple myeloma, a plasma cell cancer. It’s incurable, but there are treatments available that extend and improve the quality of life.Although the civilian hospital radiologist immediately reported the CT scan results to Eglin, nothing was done to treat Fairhurst’s cancer. Fairhurst’s spine fractured on July 23 because diffuse osteoporosis can be one of the outcomes of multiple myeloma. Treatment for the multiple myeloma wasn’t started until August 2001.
After his spine fractured, Fairhurst was no longer ambulatory. After two courses of chemotherapy, Fairhurst died on Oct. 16 from an uncontrolled infection which is a common cause of death in multiple myeloma patients. Palarica Fairhurst, individually and as personal representative of her husband’s estate, sued the United States for medical malpractice, seeking wrongful death damages. The estate’s lawyer argued that Fairhurst died prematurely and suffered terribly because of the Eglin physician’s failure to diagnose cancer. The defendant admitted liability and the case was tried on damages only. Fairhurst died from cancer on Oct. 16. Plaintiff’s expert oncologist, Richard Kosierowski, testified that if aggressively treated, multiple myeloma patients have a median life expectancy of 2.5 to 3 years. Kosierowski also opined that if Fairhurst’s cancer had been treated immediately with radiation therapy after the CT scan results were reported in May, then his spine wouldn’t have fractured. Fairhurst’s lack of mobility, as well as the delay in treating the cancer, made him more susceptible to the infection that killed him, according to Kosierowski. Plaintiff sought damages for her own and her husband’s pain and suffering and for loss of consortium. Defense oncology expert Charles Goldman testified that Fairhurst’s myeloma was particularly aggressive and that earlier diagnosis would not have changed how fast his disease progressed.
Judge Richard Smoak ruled that multiple myeloma is always fatal, therefore, plaintiff’s counsel couldn’t show that Fairhurst would have survived if his cancer had been timely diagnosed and ruled that his wife couldn’t recover for her own pain and suffering under the state’s wrongful death statute. However, the judge also held that she could recover for loss of consortium and for Fairhurst’s pain and suffering because of his misdiagnosis and awarded the plaintiff $500,000.
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