[a980]

One year ago, my husband was sent to a major Canadian hospital for an abscess in his lower gumline that his periodontist worried might be a malignant tumour. The hospital's doctors checked the gums and jaws, took a bunch of x-rays (but no biopsy), and declared it was some old tooth tissue that had shown up in the x-ray as a lesion but wasn't a lesion.
So we came away - relieved and cheered by the news.

Now, one year past, the gum line has had a hard swelling on the bone portion, which a different doctor (same hospital) has diagnosed as requiring surgery by curettage. He will then send the samples of the tissue that comes from the curettage for a biopsy (as is usual). The chances of cancer are less than 5%; but this bone outgrowth could well be an aggressive benign lesion. It has already eaten into a significant part of my husband's jaw line rendering it fragile, so he has to be on soft foods from now until 6-8 months after the surgery. The biopsy will reveal if it is a case of ameloblastoma or not - if it is, then the chaces of a similar thing recurring are as high as 60%. If it is not, then it could be many other things - like a cell granuloma or a cyst - whose chances of recurrence are 10%.

Needless to say, we are very worried. When I asked my current doc if the previous doctor and her team missed this bone outgrowth last year, he was evasive, and wouldn't give me a full answer. His resident doctor - a young MD - and he exchanged glances and picked up the x-rays and started scanning it once again, instead of answering me.

I personally think the previous doctor and her team missed diagnosing this major disease right at the start. Her initial report said nothing of the tooth tissue problem but focused entirely on the abscess, which of course, without biopsy, she declared benign. The latter isn't my problem; I am concerned how they could have missed what might be a potential ameloblastoma - had it been caught then (and it's there to see on the x-rays she had then), it might not have developed so much, and rendered the jaw fragile.

Do we have any grounds for claiming victimization by malpractice or under-care or soemthing? We are 30-yr olds, in school, completing our doctoral degrees (not in medicine), and have been really devastated by this.

I hope some lawyers among you can advise us intelligently.

Thanks,
a980

[JudyKayTee]

Take everything you have concerning this - paperwork, bills - to a medical malpractice Attorney and ask. That's the only way to know for sure and without knowing exactly what the medical records say, I would only be guessing.

Medical malpractice lawsuits are quite expensive and that may very well be a factor in your final decision whether the pursue this matter.