In 1998 the National Institute of Medicine published a study revealing that as many as 98,000 deaths each year are caused by medical errors. That study did not touch on how many additional persons were injured, or suffered serious illness, deformities, and early deaths subsequently, as a result of medical errors, shortcuts, cost saving measures, moving too fast, caring for too many patients . . . .

Many of those errors, far too many, involve cancer patients.  We, at the Law Offices of Mark R. Bower, P.C., don't know the exact number of people injured either, but every day we hear from some of them. We hear from patients and families who have suffered serious injuries and whose lives will never be the same again. They aren't the people looking for jackpots or the insurance company frauds that you read about in the paper or on billboards. They are real people, like you and me, who by no fault of their own, suffered serious injuries as a result of medical error.

I am Mark Bower.  I have advocated for those who have been injured by medical errors for 30 years.  I fairly, but aggressively, represent the people who have been injured.  An amazing number of people who have come to me have suffered delays in diagnosis or errors in treating their cancers.  A small sampling of the cancer victims, I have represented and for whom I have recovered very fine and fair verdicts and settlement include:

• A woman who at age 60, "got her period again." Her family doctor didn't do a history thoroughly enough to know that she had vaginal bleeding along with other signs of serious problems. A Pap test was done, but the laboratory reported that the specimen was inadequate for testing; then the report was filed away without a re-test.  Her cervical cancer was never detected until she changed doctors, but by then the cancer was widely metastatic.

• A woman who had abnormal breast examinations for 15 years at her HMO provider.  Early on, her radiologist made recommendations that her suspicious breast calcifications on mammography warranted surgical consultations, but after the same surgeon saw her several times and decided that her masses "felt benign," the radiologist quit recommending surgical follow-up.  After she retired and moved South, her new doctor sent her immediately to a mammographer to evaluate the lumps present in both breasts.  She was found to have metastatic cancer in both breasts with metastases to the lymph nodes under her arms.

• A woman in her late 50s started complaining about new problems with constipation, and new onset abdominal pains.  Her family doctor sent her to a gynecologist who did an exam and felt her problems were not gynecologic.  She returned to her family doctor and he eventually sent her to a gastroenterologist who felt that her heart medications were causing constipation.  He never did a colonoscope.  Her family doctor never did rectal examinations or checked her stool for occult blood in the 20+ year period in which she was cared for by the medical group, or within the three years she had the abdominal symptoms.  She retired and moved to a new community, and months after her move her abdominal pains worsened.  She went to an Emergency Department where a CT scan was performed diagnosing her colon cancer.  She went immediately for surgery, but the cancer had already metastasized outside the colon, significantly worsening her chance to be cured, and worsening the treatments she had to undergo.

•  A man who went regularly to have his moles checked, but whose dermatologist still failed to biopsy a strange, horny growth on his heel, even though the man asked him to look at the growth so large that it made him go up two shoe sizes.  That tumor on his heel turned out to be a melanoma. He lost his leg, and will probably lose his life because of the delayed diagnosis of his cancer.

• and many, many more . . .

 How does this relate to me?

These people who have been injured by medical errors are all people like you and me.  They were working people, trying their best to seek out health care appropriately, and to care for themselves and their families.  In spite of their best efforts and through no fault of their own, their cancers were missed until they had grown into late stages with poor prognoses. 

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Take a look at my website to see if any of these situations might describe your medical experience.  If you fear that substandard medical care or outright errors resulted in a delay in detecting your cancer, or caused complications in your cancer care that hurt your chance of recovering, I will look at your case free of charge, and tell you if you may have been the victim of medical malpractice.  If your case is outside our jurisdiction, we can help you to find skilled and ethical counsel in your area.

Mark R. Bower, Esq

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