Opinion ID: 2206288
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: First Action

Text: In the prior action, Mr. Patton filed a complaint under the Survival Act [1] and Wrongful Death Act [2] against Mrs. Onder's surgeon, Joseph E. Gutierrez, M.D., alleging that he negligently failed to diagnose cancer in her breast in 1988. Dr. Gutierrez' defense in essence, was that Mrs. Onder did not have cancer in 1988, that a lump in the upper right area of her chest which he examined in 1988, was an enlarged (and non-malignant) lymph node, and that her breast cancer did not develop until 1989. Patton v. Gutierrez, No. 93-CV-1391 (D.C. May 26, 1995) ( Patton I ). A jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Gutierrez, and this court affirmed the judgment in an unpublished memorandum opinion. Id. During the trial in Patton I, Dr. Klein testified as a witness on behalf of Dr. Gutierrez. Dr. Klein testified that a benign nodule, which he felt at the time of the examination, was visible on a mammogram x-ray on May 6, 1988, the date of the examination. Dr. Klein admitted in testimony that there was an error in his written report which he sent to Dr. Koch, Mrs. Onder's gynecologist, with a copy to Dr. Gutierrez. Specifically, he testified that in the report he stated that he found a palpable nodule in the upper outer quadrant of the right breast of Mrs. Onder, which likely represented a lymph node which could not be seen on either the mammogram or sonogram. However, Dr. Klein testified that the lump he found was not actually in Mrs. Onder's breast tissue, but in the axilla, an area adjacent to the breast. [3] He further testified that his written report was incorrect in stating that the nodule was not visualized on the mammogram as a cyst, instead of that it was not visualized on the sonogram as a cyst. According to Dr. Klein's trial testimony, the nodule which appeared on the x-ray was in the same area where he felt the nodule upon examination, but he could not say at trial that both were the same. [4]