US Woman Sues Hospital For being Misled into Breast & Uterus Removal

Elisha Cooke-Moore (36) could never have foreseen even in her wildest dreams what would happen to her when she just goes to see her obstetrician-gynaecologist. She underwent a genetic testing and her gynaecologist said that it showed that she had a 50 percent chance of getting breast cancer and up to an 80 percent chance of getting uterine cancer.

This left the Oregon-based Moore stressed. She quickly underwent the surgeries her doctor suggested—double mastectomy and hysterectomy. They told her that it would lower her chances of getting cancer.

However, months later she got to know that her initial reports were negative and that she did not require to go through surgeries.

Now Moore is suing Curry County Health District where she underwent the tests and members of her medical team for $1.8 million.

She told The Washington Post that the hospital “damaged” her for the rest of her life.

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In August 2016 Moore underwent a total hysterectomy. Then two months later she had a prophylactic bilateral nipple-sparing mastectomy along with breast implants, she said in her lawsuit.

It was in 2015 that Moore went through an annual exam where she received genetic testing to know her chances of getting breast and other cancers. Before that Moore had told her doctor her family’s history of cancer. And to lower her doubts, her doctor suggested she gets a test for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 gene mutation.

And while the tests came out to be negative, the medical team told her that she, in fact, has MLH1 gene mutation and Lynch syndrome, she mentioned in the lawsuit. (It is considered Lynch syndrome increases the risks of many types of cancer.)

"Devastated," Elisha Cooke-Moore said, remembering how she felt at the time. "I'm just not sure how you can mistake a negative for a positive."

Her nurse practitioner then referred her to specialists within the Curry Health Network - gynaecologist William Fitts to get Hysterectomy done. And they recommended surgeon Jessica Carlson to perform double mastectomy and reconstruction. However, Moore said that none of the doctors reiterated about her test results.

Moore’s medical team "continued to negligently rely upon the misinterpreted genetic testing results," states the lawsuit. In fact, Moore said that they even forced her children who don’t live in Oregon to go through a test for mutation.

"I'm dumbfounded. We're all dumbfounded," said Cooke-Moore's attorney, Christopher Cauble. "They all should have caught this," reported NDTV

Curry Health Network’s representative, the attorney for the hospital and Fitts haven’t released a statement yet.

Moore revealed that she discovered about her situation earlier this year while going through her test results which said “negative”.

"Devastated," she said, remembering how she felt at the time. "I'm just not sure how you can mistake a negative for a positive."

Picture credit- Premier Physician