WellStar Roswell Imaging Center complaint alleges a misread breast ultrasound before a metastatic cancer diagnosis
The complaint alleges that a radiologist misread a right-breast ultrasound as benign on October 14, 2019, despite several abnormal images. The patient, 28, had reported bloody nipple discharge. The radiologist recommended only a mammogram starting at age 40 rather than additional diagnostic imaging. About two years later the patient found a hard lump in her right breast. Imaging and a biopsy in December 2021 confirmed Grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma with lymph-node spread. A PET scan and liver biopsy in January 2022 showed the cancer had metastasized to her liver. The complaint alleges the delayed diagnosis let the cancer progress to an incurable stage.
Overview
This page concerns a public complaint alleging that a radiologist misread a breast ultrasound as benign before the patient’s cancer became incurable.
Chronology
The complaint alleges as follows:
- The patient, then 28, saw a nurse practitioner on October 9, 2019 for bloody discharge from her right nipple. The nurse practitioner ordered a breast ultrasound.
- Asad Hayat, M.D. interpreted the October 14, 2019 ultrasound at WellStar Roswell Imaging Center as BI-RADS 2, or benign. He recommended only a mammogram starting at age 40.
- In March 2021 the patient was seen for a swollen lymph node and told to return if it did not resolve.
- In late October 2021 the patient found a hard lump in her right breast, about two years after the October 2019 ultrasound.
- A December 20, 2021 mammogram and ultrasound showed multiple masses and calcifications spanning several centimeters and an abnormal axillary lymph node. A same-day biopsy confirmed Grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma with lymph-node metastasis.
- A January 2022 PET scan and liver biopsy showed the cancer had metastasized to her liver. She was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer.
Alleged failures
The complaint alleges the following failures:
- Dr. Hayat did not identify or report the abnormalities visible on the October 14, 2019 ultrasound.
- Dr. Hayat interpreted the study as benign when it should have been read as BI-RADS 4, or suspicious for cancer.
- Quantum Radiology and WellStar did not have any or adequate policies requiring staff to properly read ultrasounds and recognize signs of breast cancer.
- The filing alleges the failure to treat the cancer before it metastasized caused a permanent and incurable injury.
- The complaint pleads negligence, vicarious liability, and joint-venture liability against the corporate defendants, and loss of consortium. It also seeks punitive damages and attorney’s fees and attaches an expert affidavit under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.