Man awarded $1.9M after misinterpreted scan contributes to 20-month delay in cancer diagnosis

A federal judge Monday awarded a New York man and his wife $1.9 million after Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center physicians failed to identify a lump in his neck, delaying his cancer diagnosis by 20 months.

U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford said it was an “undisputed fact” that Gerald Culhane’s abnormally large left cervical lymph node was not spotted and acted upon when it should have been, the Buffalo News reported Jan. 2. The enlargement was “clearly visible” on a September 2013 CT scan performed at the VA center, according to the news outlet. Those exam results, however, didn’t mention the mass.

Culhane, a Vietnam veteran, first complained of a three-month-old lump in his neck during a 2013 primary care visit to the VA. After undergoing a CT scan, the radiologist report from that September noted there was no evidence of a tumor requiring biopsy and no follow-up was scheduled.

Fast forward to April 2015 and Culhane underwent another neck scan and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma; a primary malignancy was later pinpointed in his left tonsil. Radiation treatments and chemotherapy were not enough to destroy the disease, which came back in January 2017. After undergoing invasive surgery, Culhane sued the U.S. government later that year.

The $1.9 million payout was primarily awarded to the couple for their pain and suffering.

"There's a lot of good people who work there and take veterans' care at heart," Culhane, 76, said to the Buffalo News. "There’s a few who don’t seem to care, don’t seem qualified to do the job they’re doing. And they seem to stay on."

Read more about the lawsuit below.