Dec 13, 2007 8:33 am US/Central
County Clinics Sued Over Faulty Mammograms
Lawsuits Claim Breast Cancer Wasn't Detected Until It Was Too Late
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
CBS
Stroger Hospital and other Cook County medical clinics are facing medical malpractice lawsuits over faulty mammograms in two separate cases.
The lawsuits were filed Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of Christine Moore and the now-deceased Bobbie Jean Melton.
Bobbie Jean Melton's widower, Randy Melton, is claiming that his wife was not told about her cancer soon enough to save her life. The lawsuit said doctors at the county's Jorge Prieto Health Care Center in the Little Village neighborhood told Bobbie Jean Melton everything was normal at a mammogram on Sept. 1, 2004, and the following year, doctors failed to give a breast exam.
On Nov. 19, 2005, a doctor at Resurrection Medical Center found that Bobbie Jean Melton had stage four breast cancer that had metastasized to her lungs and liver. She died on July 26 of this year, and her husband says her death could have been prevented had the cancer been detected sooner. The suit seeks $150,000 in damages for medical negligence and wrongful death.
The lawsuit by Moore claims that she went to the Fantus Clinic on the Stroger Hospital campus in early 2005, and was told that the abnormal appearance of her breasts was because she was "just old." But in July of that year, Moore went back complaining of hair loss and numbness in her hand, and a mammogram revealed what turned out to be stage three breast cancer, the lawsuit said.
Moore's lawsuit also seeks $150,000 in damages.
A reaction from the county was not available Thursday.
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages 
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