59-year-old Judy Karpinski underwent a biopsy in September 2021 of two small bumps on her shoulder and her back at Bay Dermatology in St. Pete Beach, Florida. The tissue samples from the biopsy were then sent to UF Health for evaluation. Two days before Christmas, Karpinski’s dermatologist called her with the results: UF Health had determined that she had B-cell lymphoma, which is a fast growing cancer that is often treated with chemotherapy…medicalmalpracticelawyers.com, June 2023
Karpinksi was devastated by the cancer diagnosis. She and her husband cancelled their planned six-week vacation to Turks and Caicos, losing their $10,000 nonrefundable deposit. They were distraught about their future.
Bay Dermatology referred Karpinski to Moffitt Cancer Center, where 17 tubes of her blood were drawn for testing. Doctors at Moffitt also performed additional biopsies. After evaluating the testing, Moffitt determined that Karpinski did not have B-cell lymphoma but instead had T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder, which most often affects the skin and causes itching, rash-like patches, and sometimes tumors. The treatment provided to Karpinski was topical cream that she would apply at home.
For two months, Karpinski had lived with her cancer misdiagnosis and the fears and emotional trauma that the cancer misdiagnosis had caused her.
Karpinski reportedly filed a complaint with a laboratory accreditation service run by the College of American Pathologists and also requested UF Health remove the cancer diagnosis from her medical records. UF Health reportedly refused to change the cancer diagnosis until the National Cancer Institute reviewed sample slides from the Moffitt biopsy and confirmed the Moffitt diagnosis.