Summary:
Carbone Lawyers has achieved a significant settlement for a man whose cancer diagnosis was not acted upon for nine months, resulting in the loss of the patient’s larynx.
Key Points:
- Aggressive throat cancer was diagnosed, but the referral for treatment was lost in the system
- Nine months pass with no follow-up by either the surgeon or the hospital
- Delay forces a total laryngectomy; the patient now speaks through a voice prosthesis
Case Details:
Carbone Lawyer’s client, a man in his forties who works in hospitality and lives with his wife, has a profession built on his ability to talk to his customers. He developed a persistent hoarseness and consulted a head and neck surgeon. At the first consultation, the surgeon was largely dismissive of the symptom. When the hoarseness continued, our client returned, and only then was he sent for tests. Over the following six months, our client continued to consult the surgeon, presenting with symptoms suspicious of aggressive throat cancer.
He was placed on a waiting list for what should have been a relatively minor surgical procedure. With timely treatment at that point, the cancer could have been managed through some combination of minor surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Then the referral disappeared. For more than nine months, no one followed up on it; not the surgeon, nor the hospital. Our client, an intelligent and trusting man, assumed he was simply waiting his turn. By the time the cancer reasserted itself, the only remaining option was a total laryngectomy: complete removal of his voice box. He now speaks through a voice prosthesis.
Carbone Lawyers acted for him in proceedings against the head and neck surgeon.
The defence ran on two arguments. First, the surgeon attempted to push responsibility onto the hospital, on the basis that the referral was the hospital’s to triage. Second, the defendants argued that even with timely treatment, the man would have sustained the same injuries. Carbone Lawyers assembled expert evidence demonstrating that earlier treatment would have avoided the laryngectomy entirely.
The man had approached his recovery with extraordinary determination, returning to work and to running marathons. That resilience cuts both ways in litigation as defendants point to it as evidence that the consequences were not severe. However, the reality was more complicated.
Outcome:
The matter was resolved in mediation for close to three-quarters of a million dollars, including costs, with both the surgeon and the hospital contributing to the settlement.