Walkup attorneys negotiated an undisclosed settlement after Kaiser failed to timely diagnose and treat breast cancer in a 56-year-old woman. By the time the breast cancer was discovered, it was in Stage III and the woman’s prospects for survival were grim.
The woman presented to Kaiser Oakland with breast lumps and was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer in two different locations in her left breast. She underwent treatment for one area of lumps, however, was discharged without any follow-up to the lumps in the other area of her breast. She saw several Kaiser physicians over the next two years, and although the lumps were recorded in her medical chart, no Kaiser physician ever followed up with her about them. Over this period of time, the breast cancer developed from a highly treatable Stage I to Stage III from where it eventually metastasized to her brain. In addition to the failure to follow-up on the previous findings of lumps, Kaiser also negligently misread a mammogram as negative during this two-year period.
