BY JIM HALL
A Spotsylvania County jury has awarded $7.5 million to the family of a woman who died after a delayed diagnosis of breast cancer.
The jurors ruled against Dr. Donna Gamache, a Fredericksburg family practitioner, in the wrongful-death action. The five-day trial ended April 3, before Circuit Judge David H. Beck.
The award is believed to be one of the largest malpractice recoveries in Virginia history and is the second major malpractice award against Gamache.
In 2005, a Fredericksburg jury awarded $1.8 million to a Spotsylvania man who claimed that Gamache failed to diagnose and treat a severe spinal condition.
Last week's decision will be reduced to the state-mandated malpractice cap at the time of the negligence: $1.65 million.
Gamache yesterday declined to comment about the jury's verdict. Jill Jacobson, her Richmond attorney, said no decision has been made on an appeal.
"We're looking at all of our options right now," Jacobson said.
The jury's decision ended a case that began six years ago when Eleanor Browder, the plaintiff, found a lump, about 1 inch by 2 inches, in her right breast.
Browder died of cancer last April before her complaint ever reached trial. Paul Browder, her husband, and her two adult children continued the case after her death.
Eleanor Browder was a registered nurse who had worked at Culpeper Regional Hospital. Paul Browder was a longtime mail carrier in Spotsylvania.
In recent years, the family had moved to New Jersey, where Browder worked as a school nurse until her death.
In March 2003, Browder, then 53, visited Gamache's office at Lee's Hill Medical Associates. Mary Nichols, a nurse practitioner there, ordered a mammogram of the right breast. The test was negative.
Both Gamache and Nichols were employees of the practice. Gamache has since opened Lee's Hill Family Physicians.
Nichols was originally named as a defendant but settled the case early and was not a part of the trial, according to court records.
William Artz, Browder's Arlington attorney, argued that the mammogram results were delivered to Gamache's mailbox at Mary Washington Hospital. Gamache examined them and wrote at the top, "Need chart."
"That's where the ball got dropped," Artz said yesterday in a phone interview. "She never got the chart. Nobody did anything more."
Artz argued that Gamache should have ordered additional tests, such as an ultrasound and biopsy.
Browder had a perceptible lump in her breast, he said, and Gamache should not have relied on what turned out to be the false-negative mammogram.
"No one knew what the cause of the lump was, and they needed to know," Artz said.
Browder returned to Gamache in October. By then the lump had grown to the size of a lemon, Artz said.
Gamache ordered an ultrasound and biopsy, which identified the lump as cancerous.
Artz argued that if the cancer had been identified seven months earlier, when the cancer was Stage I or Stage II, the chances of survival would have been greater.
By November, the cancer was Stage IV and incurable, he said.
Browder had chemotherapy before surgery, then a double mastectomy, and chemotherapy and radiation after the surgery.
Her cancer was in remission until 2006, when it returned in her stomach, pancreas and brain, Artz said. She died one year ago this month.
The jury deliberated about 5 hours before deciding for Browder's family. They awarded $212,000 for medical expenses, $785,000 for "economic loss," and $6.5 million to Paul Browder for "solace."
Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com
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Last week's jury award in the Browder case was rare. Most of the time, juries decide for the defendants.
Studies, including one by the Virginia Corporation Commission, show that few malpractice claims ever reach a jury, and when they do, the chances of payment are slim. Juries find for the doctor or hospital up to 80 percent of the time. |