In 2010, Pisano became the primary care physician of Kersey, who had a significant family history of cancer, including his father having prostate cancer. Pisano knew that this history placed Kersey at an elevated risk for prostate cancer…law.com, Plaintiff’s Death Caused by Failure to Test Cancer, Screen Hep C, verdictsearch, July 2022
According to the plaintiffs, a September 2015 testing of Kersey’s PSA level nearly tripled from a test taken in March 2014. Plaintiffs’ counsel argued that the significant increase in PSA results was highly concerning for prostate cancer and that the standard of care required an immediate workup and referral to a urologist for a prostate cancer assessment and screening. However, during a November 2015 follow-up visit, Pisano failed to reference the concerning rise in the PSA value, the estate alleged.
The plaintiffs sought recovery of wrongful-death damages that included damages for Kersey’s pain and suffering.
The jury found that Pisano was negligent and that his negligence was a factual cause of harm to Kersey. The jury attributed 20 percent liability to Kersey regarding his liver cancer. The jury determined that damages totaled $3 million, equally allocated to damages for liver and prostate cancer. The damages for liver cancer were subject to a comparative-negligence offset. After the offset was applied, the estate’s recovery totaled $2.7 million.