Woman Claims Doctor 'Spilled' Cancerous Tissue into Stomach

Fox News ^ | 20 Sep 07 | AP

[stm]

DES MOINES, Iowa — A woman is suing her gynecologist for allegedly not telling her that he accidentally cut open a tumor he removed from her ovary, spilling cancerous tissue in her abdomen and causing her cancer to spread.

The lawsuit, filed in Polk County District Court by Lavonne Schroeter, alleges that Dr. Curtis Hoegh's negligence during and after the operation "will cause her premature death." The lawsuit also names his employer, Iowa Health Physicians and Clinics, as a defendant.

The 53-year-old Schroeter says the Des Moines doctor removed her tumor in 2002, but he never mentioned it was cancerous or discussed any mishaps during surgery. However, Hoegh had Schroeter undergo an electronic scan after a blood test raised concerns three years later, and more growths were found.

Another surgeon removed several cancerous tumors and prescribed medication, but the cancer continued to spread, the lawsuit states. Last year, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told her that Hoegh had accidentally cut into her tumor and caused the spread of the cancer, which is terminal but treatable, according to the lawsuit.

Schroeter's lawyer, Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, says the Mayo doctor found out about the mistake by reading her client's medical records.

[endthematrix]

My father lived over fifty years in anguish after losing his first wife in the hospital. He vividly remembered the doctor who came to him and told him his wife had died, “...but the operation was success!”

[The KG9 Kid]

I'm not an Oncologist, but I am unaware that it's scientifically possible to inject a subject with cancer.

I am also in doubt about whether this would work even with your own cancerous cells.

Certainly, it's impossible to take a hypodermic needle filled with cancer cells and inject a patient with it and 'give them' cancer. Cancer researchers have been trying this for decades and haven't met with success to my knowledge. Such a thing would be a milestone event in cancer research.

[dangus]

Well, if he can document that he told her (and it’s unthinkable that he wouldn’t document a prognosis!), then her lie is exposed. If he CAN’T, he’s got a problem, because documenting prognoses is for more than just insurance and lawsuits. When people are under stress, it is INEVITABLE that they will misunderstand verbal statements. Failure to properly inform her is failure to inform her.

[dangus]

Wow. That’s terrible. It sounds like a real-life version of that joke, (and incidents laughed at in jokes are outrageous in real life) “So Mrs. Lincoln, how was the PLAY?”

[Doomonyou]

It's a classic!

sed-a-GIVE!?!

[endthematrix]

"A woman is suing her gynecologist for allegedly not telling her that he accidentally cut open a tumor he removed from her ovary, spilling cancerous tissue in her abdomen and causing her cancer to spread."

Not telling her aside, he still possibly saved her life.

"Another surgeon removed several cancerous tumors and prescribed medication, but the cancer continued to spread, the lawsuit states."

You mean the cancer spread, like the first doc, even after tumor removal? Why not blame him? /s

"Last year, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., told her that Hoegh had accidentally cut into her tumor and caused the spread of the cancer"

How would this info (Dr. confidence and hearsay) come about without previous records?

[Panzerlied]

“...the cancer, which is terminal but treatable...”

WTF?

[dangus]

“I’m not an Oncologist, but I am unaware that it’s scientifically possible to inject a subject with cancer. “

Neither am I, but as I understand it, the point is that the recipient’s body simply treat the foreign cells as they would bacteria and kill them off. Cancer spreads precisely because the body doesn’t recognize that it shouldn’t spread, since it is the person’s own tissue. As a result, the body supplies end of nutrients to the cancer.

Metastacism (sp?) is nothing other than the the cancerous tissue breaking apart and traveling through the blood stream to other parts of the body. Essentially, the doctor metasticized the tumor. That said, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if someone confidently asserted a well-reasoned explanation for why spilled cancer cells couldn’t anchor themselves throughout the body.

[Mamzelle]

re: accidentally cut into her tumor and caused the spread of the cancer)))

Huh? LIke an ovary has an inpenetrable seal around it to begin with? This is so bogus. Why did national news pick it up?

[dangus]

Terminal means you will have it when you die, which will happen sooner than if you didn’t have it.

Treatable means that the effects of it can be lessened or delayed; it specifically does NOT mean “curable,” which would be mean that the cancer and its effects are completely ridded from the body.

[CDHart]

When I was first diagnosed with lung cancer, I had to have a needle biopsy through the chest wall. I asked the doctor who was doing it if that would spread cancer cells by dragging them through the chest wall. He said, "Not usually." Sounded like it's possible to me!

Carolyn

[dangus]

>> Huh? LIke an ovary has an inpenetrable seal around it to begin with? <<

I’m not sure about the ovaries specifically, but most organs do have a layer of protective tissue surrounding them, enclosing their own tissues and anything they may produce.

[dangus]

>> He said, “Not usually.” <<

I’m amazed if you didn’t have any follow-up questions for that!

[Belasarius]

I’m not a doctor either but my brother had a fairly rare form of cancer (Liposarcoma?) that forms large encapsulated tumors in large muscle tissue of the legs or arms.

He was told that if the tumor sac was penetrated that fragments of the tumor would enter the blood stream and metastasize. They treated it like a live handgrenade when they removed it.

[dangus]

>> You mean the cancer spread, like the first doc, even after tumor removal? Why not blame him? <<

Because once the cancer is scattered, it’s impossible to remove through simple surgery. One cancer can be found and removed. Thousands of tiny cancers cannot be.

>> Not telling her aside, he still possibly saved her life. <<

That’s like saying a demolition man who fails to inform you the building you are in is slated for destruction probably saved your life. Her life was only in his hands because he assumed the responsibility.

[dangus]

Thanks. I guess that settles that. Judging from its name, Liposarcoma is cancer of fat tissue. I can see why that’d be especially difficult to handle.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Isn’t there the danger of this with every biopsy? What’s the difference?

[Smokin' Joe]

I find it virtually impossible that this physician did not inform the woman this tumor was malignant.

As do many here. You have been very fortunate in your experiences with doctors if this is the case.

It has been my experience that there doctors of all levels of competence, that there are real variations in the quality of service, and that contempt for patients (individually or as part of a 'group', merited or otherwise) can lead to substandard medical care.

[CDHart]

Well, it was a bit late for that, as he had already done the biopsy. I was still in shock from the initial diagnosis, so I wasn't tracking real well at the time.

Carolyn