BELLEVILLE – A patient claims the Memorial Medical Group, LLC was negligent in failing to carry out a test for prostate cancer, which has prompted a lawsuit.
John Fritsche filed suit Dec. 30 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Memorial Medical Group and Dr. James Wade. HIs wife, Linda, is also suing for claimed lack of consortium.
The lawsuit states Fritsche was a patient of the physician from 2007 and that a number of tests for prostate cancer were carried in the earlier years of the care. At the time of his first visit in 2007, Fritsche was 56 years of age, the complaint states. A test was carried out, as was one the following year and there were multiple follow up appointments.
From 2013 to early 2018, more visits were made but no tests for prostrate cancer were administered, the complaint claims, which adds that the plaintiff was subsequently diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer.
The complaint claims that the defendants negligently and carelessly failed to order or perform a screening test for prostate cancer for 10 years between 2008 and 2018. It is further claimed that there was negligence in failing to advise the patient of the need for such a test.
It is claimed that as a result of the negligence, Fritsche was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer which led to numerous treatments that would have otherwise been unnecessary with early detecting. The lawsuit also claims that because of the resulting injuries and damages sustained by Fritsche, plaintiff Linda Fritsche has been caused presently and, in the future, to lose the support, care, consortium, and companionship of her husband.
The plaintiffs, who are represented by Chad M. Mooney of Cates Mahony in Swansea in Belleville, are seeking more than $50,000.
Memorial Medical Group has told the Madison County Record that it does not comment on pending litigation.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 2019-L-947