An Illinois woman recently filed a complaint against her former doctor citing medical malpractice. The woman’s complaint states that her doctor made several errors when treating her. According to the lawsuit, the woman’s doctor diagnosed her with a condition that she did not have. As a result, the woman received intense treatment for a serious medical condition that she was not suffering from. And in addition to making a wrong diagnosis, the doctor also treated the woman with medication that had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The woman’s doctor pleaded guilty to criminal charges last year after it was discovered that he had been buying off-brand chemotherapy medications and giving his cancer patients in the Illinois the illegal drugs since 2010. The non-approved drugs were cheaper for the doctor to buy compared to FDA-approved drugs. After administering the drugs when treating cancer patients, the doctor billed Medicare and Medicaid to receive reimbursements. Reports have not stated whether any of the doctor’s cancer patients were aware that the drugs they were being treated with were illegal.
The Illinois woman’s complaint states that she received chemotherapy treatments after her doctor had diagnosed her with leukemia. The woman later learned that she did not have leukemia. She also learned that she had been given illegal chemotherapy treatments.
The woman is suing her doctor for failing to correctly interpret the results of her medical tests, which suggested that the woman did not have leukemia. The woman is also suing her doctor for treating her with medications that were illegal and unnecessary. She is seeking at least $50,000 in damages for her doctor’s negligence and illegal actions.
Although some medical conditions are difficult for doctors to diagnose correctly, doctors do have access to a variety of resources that help doctors rule in or rule out serious medical problems. When these resources are not used properly, or when doctors fail to correctly interpret medical test results, doctors may be held responsible for their patients’ injuries from a wrong diagnosis or misdiagnosis.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Case against doctor who pleaded guilty to dispensing off-brand chemo drugs in court,” Ann Maher, April 30, 2013
