Sullivan Papain Attorney Elizabeth Montesano Secures $3.985 Million Settlement in Case Involving Missed Cancer Diagnosis After Appendectomy

Sullivan Papain is pleased to announce a $3,985,000.00 settlement secured by attorney Elizabeth Montesano on behalf of a 60-year-old woman whose colon cancer went undiagnosed for over a year due to a series of medical errors following a routine appendectomy. The settlement was finalized just before the case was set to go to trial.

In February 2022, the patient underwent an emergency appendectomy after experiencing abdominal pain and inflammation. The removed appendix was sent to the hospital laboratory for pathology review. The pathologist’s report revealed that the patient had a form of colon cancer with favorable prognostic features—meaning that, if caught promptly, it could have been treated with curative intent.

However, the pathologist failed to follow the hospital’s established policy requiring direct verbal communication of unexpected cancer findings to the treating surgeon. Instead, the report was simply faxed. No documentation was made to indicate that the diagnosis was ever communicated to the surgeon, and the surgeon never reviewed the report.

The patient returned for two follow-up visits, where a second surgeon also failed to review or inform her of the pathology results. As a result, the cancer diagnosis was entirely missed. It wasn’t until May 2023—more than a year later—that the patient was properly diagnosed, after returning to the hospital for persistent side pain. Imaging at that time revealed Stage IV metastatic colon cancer. The opportunity for early, potentially life-saving treatment had been lost.

Sullivan Papain retained medical experts who confirmed that the delay in diagnosis constituted clear medical negligence and directly caused the cancer to progress to an incurable stage. The patient is now undergoing palliative treatment, with the understanding that her condition is terminal.

Attorney Elizabeth Montesano aggressively litigated the case and negotiated a settlement totaling $3,985,000.00—$3,000,000.00 on behalf of the surgeons and colleague, and $985,000.00 on behalf of the pathologist.