Clark County Nevada jury returns $2.5 million malpractice verdict

2009-01-29 23:04:05 (GMT) (JusticeNewsFlash.com - Justice News Flash, Medical Malpractice)

Nevada doctor cancer misdiagnosis returns malpractice jury verdict

Clark County District Court jury verdict of $2.5 million for wrongful death of 27 year-old patient.

West Palm Beach, FL (JusticeNewsFlash.com)–A Clark County District Court jury returned a record $2.5 million verdict in the medical malpractice lawsuit involving a missed cancer diagnosis, of a 24 year-old female patient, in 2004. The patient, Elisa Sanchez, a 24 year-old mother, continued to go to her doctor, Steven Lampinen, complaining of blood in her stools and pain. After 7 months of continued visits to Dr. Lampinen, complaining of unresolved rectal bleeding and pain, she was rushed to University Medical Center in Las Vegas. The horrific pain and rectal bleeding Dr. Lampinen kept diagnosing as hemorrhoids was actually colon and rectal cancer.

Sanchez was diagnosed with aggressive colon and rectal cancer at University Medical Center by medical experts. She died of the advanced cancer in 2007 at the young age of 27. The family sued Dr. Lampinen, and his nurse Brian Bishop at the medial practice, claiming medical negligence for not properly examining Sanchez, discounting her symptoms, and missing her cancer diagnosis, resulting in her wrongful death. The family’s attorney and legal team, consisting of medical experts, argued in court if Lampinen had properly examined and diagnosed Sanchez, when she first began visiting the medical practice, her cancer survival rate would have been 97 percent.

By the time Sanchez was diagnosed her cancer survival rate had dropped to 50 percent. Sanchez underwent aggressive chemotherapy treatments and major surgeries removing her uterus and parts of her lower intestines. She died from the cancer in 2007 leaving behind a loving, husband and 5 year-old daughter.

Legal experts believe this may be one of the largest medical malpractice jury verdicts in Nevada District Court history.

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