Indiana woman awarded $300 thousand in medical malpractice case

By Daniel Hawn

Published on August 02, 2005

Attorneys for Gladys Wright argued that her doctor, Dr. John Remo, failed to correctly interpret a 1999 barium enema study which indicated that Wright suffered from colon cancer.

According to the lawsuit, Wright was forced to undergo chemotherapy for a period of six months because Remo failed to identify the disease when it was in its formative stages.

During his 30 years of practicing medicine in Lafayette, Remo has carried out thousands of barium enema studies, and in court, he claimed that his analysis of Wright's study was accurate. He said that he had never seen a cancer look like the abnormality in Wright' colon that was revealed in the 1999 X-rays.

The jury, which consisted of four women and two men, reached their decision after two hours of deliberation. The amount of the award was precisely that which Wright sought at the beginning of the trial.

The damages were mostly awarded to account for the pain and suffering caused by the chemotherapy Wright underwent in 2001 after her cancer was finally diagnosed.

Wright said she felt vindicated by the jury's decision.

Comment on this article →