A Madison County woman claims doctors failed to accurately read a mammography, allowing her breast cancer to remain undiagnosed for more than one year.
Pamela S. Brown and Elberon Brown filed a lawsuit Feb. 3 in Madison County Circuit Court against Dr. Charles R. Schranck Jr., Dr. Christina L. Midkiff and Alton Memorial Hospital.
In her complaint, Pamela Brown claims she was not diagnosed with breast cancer until Feb. 4, 2010 -- more than one year after a mammography that showed signs of a mass in her left breast. Drs. Schranck and Midkiff, who both examined and read the mammography, failed to detect the carcinoma following the Jan. 27, 2009, exam, according to the complaint.
"Sometime after February 4, 2010, plaintiff, Pamela S. Brown, learned that the aforementioned mammograms had been improperly read and interpreted by the defendant," the suit states.
As a result, Brown claims she suffered severe and permanent injuries, suffered pain, incurred medical costs and lost income, the complaint says. In addition, she claims she suffered disability and disfigurement and lost his enjoyment of life.
Because of his wife's diagnosis, Elberon Brown claims he lost her society, support and companionship.
Brown blames Schranck and Midkiff for failing to provide her proper treatment, saying they negligently failed to ensure the proper technique was utilized when performing mammography studies, improperly read the mammography results, failed to warn Brown that her mammography showed abnormal results and failed to find the presence of a mass on the mammography.
Alton Memorial Hospital is also named as a defendant for its alleged failure to properly train its personnel, failure to provide adequate equipment to perform mammography studies, failure to perform proper mammography studies and failure to decide whether staff who examined mammography studies were properly trained, according to the complaint.
In her six-count complaint, Brown seeks a judgment of more than $300,000, plus costs.
Terry N. Brown of Brown and Associates in Belleville will be representing her.
Madison County Circuit Court case number: 12-L-149.
Breast cancer went undiagnosed for more than year, suit claims
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