Top News- Misdiagnosed Man Spends Life Savings - AOL News

Top News- Misdiagnosed Man Spends Life Savings - AOL News

Does this man deserve compensation from the doctors and hospital that misdiagnosed him with pancreatic cancer? Because of the diagnosis, John Brandrick, 62, decided to sell all of his possessions, including his car and even his clothing to live his remaining days in style. However, Brandrick did not have cancer. He had something called pancreatitis, a curable ailment. The first question that came to my mind was, "Is a biopsy not performed to determine the presence pancreatic cancer?" If so, how could they come to him with a diagnosis of cancer if the biopsy did not show it? The hospital says that after reviewing the case, they would not have made any different diagnosis at the time based on the same evidence. If so, how did they eventually come to the second and correct diagnosis?

Now, let us suppose that the hospital did all of the necessary testing and procedures necessary to make a proper diagnosis, and all of the signs did indeed say "pancreatic cancer." Was it the hospital's fault that Mr. Brandrick decided to live the "high life" for his remaining days? I would say, "No." Mr. Brandrick would have made that decision based on the best information available at the time. The hospital could not be held liable if a miracle had taken place and Mr. Brandrick was now destitute. That apparently is not what happened here.

I believe a full investigation into all of Mr. Brandrick's records relating to this case should be reviewed by an independent medical panel to determine if the proper procedures were followed and the proper diagnosis made from the information obtained from those procedures. If the proper procedures were performed, Mr. Brandrick has no legal footing. However, if the hospital did not do what was necessary to make a proper diagnosis, they should be held liable for Mr. Brandrick's financial loss. No one is going to make the same decisions believing they have only months to live as they would believing that they will eventually recover from their illness.