Originally Published in the Knoxville News Sentinel, May 20, 2008

Malpractice award almost $3M

By Bob Fowler (Contact)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

CLINTON - Robin Farley won a medical malpractice verdict of nearly $3 million Monday.

She said she would gladly trade it all for a correct diagnosis in 2001.

Farley, 41, has terminal breast cancer. She has a year - at most, three years - to live.

When she was 35, Farley received a mammogram in 2001 given by Dr. James Rouse of Oak Ridge Breast Center P.C.

The X-ray findings were reported by Rouse as normal, said Farley's attorney, Bill Vines of Knoxville.

Farley disagreed: "My baseline mammogram was suspicious for malignancy,'' she said.

What was diagnosed then as non-malignant calcification was, in fact, a small tumor, Vines said.

Three years later, Farley noticed an "indentation'' in one breast, Vines said.

She obtained another mammogram and learned she had "a very large tumor,'' Vines said.

It had spread to her liver, and she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer, he said.

"If she had been properly diagnosed in 2001, her cure rate was at least 90 percent,'' Vines said. "Now, her cure rate is zero.''

After a five-day trial, an Anderson County jury on Monday awarded Farley $3,250,000. Jurors awarded her husband, Dennis Farley, $225,000.

Courthouse officials said the verdict is believed to be the largest medical malpractice award in Anderson County Circuit Court history.

Jurors then reduced the verdict by 20 percent because the breast center report sent to Robin Farley's doctor urged she have a mammogram once a year.

Her doctor didn't pass that recommendation on to Farley, Vines said.

With the jury's finding, the total judgment was reduced to $2.78 million, said Knoxville attorney James London, who represented Rouse and Oak Ridge Breast Center.

London said he would promptly be filing a motion for a new trial.

Robin and Dennis Farley live in West Knoxville. She is an accountant for a firm with a Knoxville office.

"I hope to work as long as I can,'' she said Monday.

She issued this statement: "I hope that this decision will send a message insisting on proper medical care and the importance of women taking an active role in their health care. Mammograms are very important and early detection is key.''

Rouse wasn't available Monday for comment.

Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625.