Page 28 - Verdicts and Settlements Hall of Fame: Medical Malpractice
P. 28
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
VERDICT & SETTLEMENTS
HALL OF FAME
#23
had Drs. Boselli, Hoffman and Shapiro had not failed to address her
condition. Quillen claimed that all three doctors never informed her
that the excised mass’s margin were positive for cancer. According Case: Quillen v. Shapiro
to Quillen, Shapiro informed her that she “got everything out.”
Attorney: David J. Dean
The jury took her side in the malpractice case. According to David Firm: Sullivan Papain Block McGrath &
Dean, the attorney for the Quillen family, this case was important
based on her claim against three doctors, all of whom the jury found Cannavo P.C.
had falsiied evidence. “The principal doctor who left the cancer in
when she didn’t operate knew that the cancer remained in Mary’s Verdict: $10,500,000
breast. She not only denied responsibility when she told the her
By Phil Albinus
cancer was there and Mary said not to operate. That was false and
the jury was clear that the conversation stood place,” said Dean.
After a diagnosis of breast cancer, Mary Quillen’s long trip of bad He added that the other doctors also made statements that the jury
news and worse luck was just beginning. In July 2006, the 56-year found untrue. “The jury expressed later that not only was the com-
old woman was in the throes of Stage II breast cancer when she pensation adequate but the doctors were practicing bad medicine
went through quadruple bypass surgery and a lumpectomy. After and lying about it.”
the procedures, Dr. Nella Shapiro discovered that one of Quillen’s
sentinel nodes tested positive for cancer. Following this news, Quillen Sadly, Mary Quillen passed away one year after the April 2009
suffered respiratory pneumonia and repeated cardiac problems. She verdict, leaving behind a husband and two adult children, one of
was admitted twice into the hospital to undergo two angioplasties whom was serving in the U.S. Army. “The cancer that was left in took
and in August, Shapiro advised Quillen to undergo chemo and radia- her by the throat and killed her,” said Dean. “She would have lived a
tion therapy for her cancer. Another doctor prescribed against the long life expectancy -- she was a healthy woman.” She testiied during
chemotherapy and prescribed radiation and hormonal medication.
the trial and the jury found her to be a charming woman, according
to Dean. “Every person on the jury believed her when she denied
A year later, Shapiro was informed that she was suffering Stage the conversations that the doctors claimed she had had. She looked
IV cancer of her breasts, liver, lungs, pelvis, ribs and thighs. In her the jury in the eyes and she had a pleasant face even though at the
lawsuit she alleged that her cancer could have been stalled in 2006
time it was ravaged with cancer.”
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NewYorkLawJournal.com
26 November 2014
