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News- Verdicts/Successes
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|Verdicts/Successes
Jury
decides against award in cancer case
BY RAY FLANAGAN / STAFF WRITER 10/26/2002
A Lackawanna County jury refused Thursday
to award any money to a patient who claimed cancer had
spread through her body because of the misdiagnosis
of a lump on her right calf.
Ann White, 426 S. State St., Clarks
Summit, who was represented by attorney Joseph Lenahan,
presented three expert witnesses to back her contention.
But Dr. Dominic Ruggiero, represented
by attorney Mark Perry, called four experts to say he
acted correctly. The defense also argued before Judge
Robert Mazzoni that the cancer would have spread no
matter what Dr. Ruggiero had done.
Ms. White, whom Dr. Ruggiero had been
treating for varicose veins, went to him on April 13,
1998, after noticing the lump, described in the suit
as pea-sized. She was told to stay off her feet. When
it did not improve, Dr. Ruggiero ordered that an ultrasound
be performed on April 24, 1998.
The results, which came back on May
11, 1998, indicated the lump was caused by a clot in
a vein. By then, the suit said, the lump was the size
of a golf ball.
Ms. White saw the doctor again in September
1998. He said surgery might be necessary if the condition
continued.
By December of that year, the woman
had developed a lump in her groin. She went to Philadelphia
where a biopsy discovered the cancer, the suit said.
Ms. White has undergone radiation and chemotherapy since
then but the cancer has spread.
The jury found that Dr. Ruggiero followed
the right procedures even though the outcome was bad.
©Scranton Times Tribune 2004
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