Suit cites MDs' errors in loss of stomach No cancer found after surgery removes much of organ
A local woman who says she had much of her stomach removed in 2008 to get rid of a cancer that never existed is suing her surgeon and pathologists at Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.
In a $1.125-million statement of claim not yet proven in court, Laurie Helen Milosevski says the ulcers in her stomach were wrongly diagnosed as cancer.
Milosevski says she underwent surgery after pathologist Sajid Shukoor wrongly diagnosed her with invasive adenocarcinoma in April 2008.
Surgeon Abdusalem Elalem came to her after the operation and told her she never had cancer after all.
Being told she had cancer "was shocking" and caused her "considerable emotional trauma and upset," says the statement of claim.
Learning after her life-altering surgery she did not have cancer "was even more shocking and caused her additional emotional trauma and upset given that she had in fact undergone unnecessary surgery for a phantom cancer condition which did not exist."
Milosevski says she ended up with an infection at the surgical site and suffered extensive scarring. She developed post-surgical gastritis, and suffers psychological damage to this day, including nervousness and severe depression.
Contacted at her Tecumseh home Tuesday, Milosevski said she'd like to talk about her ordeal, but first wanted to consult her lawyer, who could not be reached.
Milosevski said hers is a "long, sad story" and began to cry.
Milosevski and her husband Zarko are suing Dr. Shukoor, and Dr. Olive Williams, another pathologist who recently resigned after Hotel-Dieu suspended her privileges in the midst of an inquiry into errors in her work.
While Shukoor diagnosed Milosevski with cancer, Williams, who analyzed samples from a second biopsy, said she wasn't sure. Williams suggested the biopsy be repeated since the "atypical cells were suggestive of either dysplasia or carcinoma," according to the lawsuit.
Williams' report, dated April 23, 2008, came just two days before Dr. Elalem performed the gastrectomy on Milosevski. No further biopsy was conducted.
During surgery, Elalem took tissue samples from Milosevski's stomach and himself walked them to the pathology department. A third pathologist, Dr. Yong Nguyen, analyzed the specimens and ruled out cancer, saying the woman suffered from an inflammation of the lining of the stomach.
Nguyen is not named in the lawsuit.
Milosevski is also suing Dr. Earl P. Morgan, the specialist in internal medicine who performed the first biopsy and referred the woman to Elalem. Her suit also names Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital.
Hospital spokeswoman Kim Spirou said the hospital had yet to be served with the lawsuit. According to court documents, it was filed March 26. There is no indication any of the doctors named in the suit have been served.
"Because we haven't been served, we can't comment," Spirou said. Spirou stressed that doctors with privileges at the hospital are independent of the institution. "Often, the hospital gets dropped in these suits," she said.
The hospital launched an investigation into pathology errors last fall. It identified what it called seven "cases of concern." Dr. Gord Vail, Hotel-Dieu's chief of staff, said Tuesday that Milosevski is not one of those cases.
"It's not in our review, so far," Vail said.
With the exception of Williams, all the doctors named in the lawsuit are still active staff at the hospital, Spirou said.
The statement of claim said the hospital did not have protocols to ensure diagnoses were communicated to surgeons. It specifically refers to Williams' report which advised the biopsy be repeated.
But the lawsuit also blames the hospital for allowing Williams to practise in the first place, saying it "knew or ought to have known that Dr. Williams had a history of poor reporting."
The suit says Williams "created a report which was capable of being misunderstood or misconstrued."
All the doctors, says the statement of claim, "had a duty to make a proper diagnosis ... before invasive surgery was carried
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Now how are those foreign doctors working out?
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