After being told by doctors that she carried cancer-causing genes based on genetic tests, Elisha Cooke-Moore, a 36-year-old mother from southern Oregon, underwent a “double mastectomy and a hysterectomy.” Unfortunately for Moore, after the life-altering procedures, it was discovered that her doctors had made a mistake in reading the genetic test results. Turns out she didn’t really have cancer-causing genes, but it was too late. As a result, she decided to file a $1.8 million lawsuit.
After being told by doctors that she carried cancer-causing genes based on genetic tests, Elisha Cooke-Moore, a 36-year-old mother from southern Oregon, underwent a “double mastectomy and a hysterectomy.” Unfortunately for Moore, after the life-altering procedures, it was discovered that her doctors had made a mistake in reading the genetic test results. Turns out she didn’t really have cancer-causing genes, but it was too late. As a result, she decided to file a $1.8 million lawsuit.
According to her lawsuit, she Moore claims “she had the radical, life-altering surgeries only after her gynecologist, Dr. William Fitts, determined that genetic blood tests indicated she had a 50 percent chance of getting breast cancer and up to an 80 percent chance of getting uterine cancer.” According to Moore, Dr. Fitts “erroneously told her she had the MLH1 gene mutation and Lynch syndrome — which indicate an increased risk of colorectal, uterine, ovarian and other cancers.” Additional, the lawsuit “states her nurse practitioner, Lori Johns, also misread the test results and recommended a mastectomy.”
It wasn’t until after the surgeries that the test results indicated no sign of the cancer-causing genes, causing confusion not only in Moore, but also her attorney, Christopher Cauble. Regarding the mistake, he said, “Quite frankly, we are stumped to why they would make this mistake.”
Moore herself was and still is devastated with the fact that she underwent totally unnecessary surgeries. A mother of five, she is “on the Oregon Health Plan and asked her doctor about getting screened for cancer genes given that her grandmother and mother both had cancers.” A big reason why she is so bothered with what happened is that her doctors didn’t even reach out to her to claim responsibility for the mistake. Instead, she found out about it when she was “reading through her medical file and happened across the test results.” Upon finding the mistake, she “called the lab to verify she was reading the results correctly, then was floored.”
When talking about her experience she said, “It’s terrible, I can’t even find the words to tell you. As a woman, they took what God gave me. I don’t even feel like I am one at times.” For those who don’t know, “a hysterectomy puts women into forced menopause…and also prompts patients to receive hormone therapy.”
But Dr. Fitts isn’t the only doctor Moore is going after. Her lawsuit also lists Curry Medical Practice and Curry Medical Center as defendants and calls out surgeon Jessica Carlson on claims that “she should have reviewed the test results and picked up on the other medical professionals’ alleged error.” Additionally, the lawsuit also claims Carlson “botched the mastectomy and placement of implants.” As a result, Moore has had to undergo “more than 10 corrective surgeries over the course of months” and claims she’s disfigured and experiences pain on a daily basis.
Since her ordeal, she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and said “Sometimes I don’t believe this is real…How could this happen to me?”
The lawsuit itself was filed earlier this month in Curry County Circuit Court, and so far representatives and attorneys for the defendants haven’t returned any requests for comment.
Sources:
Lawsuit: Woman had unnecessary mastectomy, hysterectomy based on mistaken diagnosis
Woman claims she got unneeded mastectomy and hysterectomy based on doctors’ shoddy diagnosis
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