Patient Never Given Biopsy Results

John Doe was a 70-year-old widower whose doctors referred him to a cardiovascular surgeon to do an open lung biopsy on a suspicious mass. The surgeon decided to have a radiologist do a needle biopsy instead. The report on the biopsy showed lung cancer, but through an error in the surgeon's office Mr. Doe was never informed.

Fifteen months later on Christmas Day, 1996, Mr. Doe went into the hospital and found out that his cancer was now inoperable. The case settled for $300,000 around Thanksgiving of 1997. Mr. Doe died in January of 1998.