EAST ST. LOUIS — A former inmate of the Vandalia Correctional Center is suing Wexford Health Services for medical malpractice following an allegedly misdiagnosed examination for cancer.
Plaintiff Terry Burner filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Wexford Health Services Inc., citing negligence and recklessness by its employee Reynal Caldwell, D.O., and other unknown employees.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was an inmate in custody at the Vandalia Correctional Center, which has a contract with Wexford Health Sources Inc. to provide health care for its inmates. Burner alleges that on Sept. 7, 2017, he checked in with medical staff regarding a mass located in his left breast. The plaintiff said that Caldwell allegedly ordered an X-ray to analyze the mass. Caldwell then allegedly told Burner that the X-ray revealed nothing and that the mass was benign.
Burner alleged that, following his release from Vandalia Correctional Center, he sought medical care regarding the mass and was diagnosed with malignant breast cancer.
According to the lawsuit, Caldwell allegedly misdiagnosed the mass because an X-ray is the incorrect diagnostic to examine a breast mass.
Burner is seeking damages in a reasonable amount, along with attorneys' fees and court costs, to be determined by a jury. He also seeks punitive damages against the defendants to punish and deter similar conduct in the future.
Burner is represented in this case by attorneys David I. Cates of Cates Mahoney LLC in Swansea and Jarrod P. Beasley of Kuehn, Beasley, and Young, P.C., in Belleville.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois case number 3:22-CV-00507-SMY