Delayed diagnosis of a four year old

This is a doctor malpractice case involving delayed diagnosis of a four year old girl.

The little girl had a rhabdomyosarcoma. It is a very treatable type of cancer -- if caught early. However, it took her pediatricians five months to diagnosis her ailment.

The child's mother initially informed the doctor that her daughter was constantly leaking urine. The urinalysis and urine culture that the pediatrician ordered turned out to be negative.

The mother called two more times, but the doctor simply told her that it was a behavioral issue and that they wouldn't examine her daughter.

Desperate, the mother used her son's appointment so the doctor would examine her daughter but was again refused.

When it was finally discovered that the child had a malignant growth in her bladder, her parents sued the defendants for physician or doctor malpractice.

Plaintiffs' claim in this case was that the defendants should have sent the child for an ultrasound. That would have revealed the cancer in her bladder.

Plaintiffs further claimed that if it weren't for the delayed diagnosis, the little girl's bladder, which was surgically removed, would have been saved.

Now, there is a need for self-catheterization through a hole in the child's belly button throughout her lifetime.

The defense said that this was not a case of doctor malpractice. There was no delayed diagnosis, since the mother could not prove she made the phone calls to their office making the complaints. No record of said phone calls were found.

The defense argued that they examined the child every time the mother asked for her daughter to be seen. They denied having refused to see her.

Defense said the mother tried to blame them for her own failings since the mother felt guilty about not bringing any complaints after the urinalysis was done.

The defense also said that since the tumor was located in the base of the bladder, the bladder will have to be completely removed anyway.

It is a medical fact that all tumors in the base of the bladder need total excision of the bladder. This was the defense' best argument.

Defense further argued for the plaintiffs to claim that five months earlier, radiation would have totally eliminated the tumor was merely speculative.

Both parties presented very qualified medical expert witnesses.

After five days of trial in Delaware County the four-year-old girl received a $750,000 settlement against her pediatricians for doctor malpractice, which in this case was a negligent delay in diagnosing her cancer of the bladder.