Amy Anderson wins not guilty for radiologist in trial where jury awarded $25 million
Plaintiff was a 42 year old woman who was seen in the emergency room at St. Alexius Medical Center for abdominal pain. An abdominal and pelvic CT scan taken showed a large ovarian mass known as a teratoma high in her pelvis. 99% of these tumors are benign. A Doppler ultrasound ordered to look for ovarian torsion did not report seeing the mass and described two unremarkable ovaries. The obstetrician who saw the plaintiff in his office 4 days later, decided that the plaintiff did not have a teratoma based on the ultrasound finding of unremarkable ovaries. He sent her on for in vitro fertilization and the plaintiff became pregnant with twins a few months later. At the time the twins were delivered by C-section 10 months later, the plaintiff’s abdomen was full of metastatic cancer from the ovarian mass that had converted to malignant and ruptured. She died 7 months after the twins were born. Anderson represented the radiologist who interpreted the ultrasound. The hospital was found to not have apparent agency for the radiologist and the jury awarded $25 million against the obstetrician.