Boston Failure to Diagnose Case Yields $16.7 Million Jury Verdict

A local Boston jury has awarded a $16.7 million to the daughter of a woman who died as a result of a radiologist’s failure to detect cancer in a chest x-ray. The verdict is believed to be the largest medical malpractice jury verdict in the Bay State this year. According to the Associated Press, “Johnette Ellis sued on behalf of her mother, Jeanne Ellis, who died in August 2008 at the age of 47, about two years after a chest X-ray was read as normal. The cancer was not detected until 13 months later.” The medical malpractice lawsuit was brought against Dr. Peter Clarke and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.