The attorneys at Rourke and Blumenthal LLC have obtained a $1.3 million verdict in a Hamilton County medical malpractice/wrongful death case. The case, Peters, et al. v. Drosick, et al., stems from the treatment provided to a 33 year-old man who received four courses of bleomycin chemotherapy following his diagnosis with testicular cancer in January of 2012. The patient received four cycles of the drug despite the fact that tumor marker blood tests indicated that he had “good-risk” disease, such that the fourth cycle was unnecessary and studies had shown it would not improve his 95-98% odds of being cured. As a result of the additional round of chemotherapy, which was given after his embryonal cell carcinoma had subsided, the patient developed pulmonary fibrosis due to the drug toxicity and sadly passed away months later.
Attorney Mike Rourke Acts as Lead Counsel
Mike Rourke was lead counsel on the case and R&B associate Jonathan Stoudt assisted throughout the course of litigation. During the trial, the plaintiffs presented the expert testimony of Dr. Lawrence Einhorn, a world-renowned oncology specialist who has been at the forefront of testicular cancer research for decades, during which time the cure rate for these forms of cancer has climbed from a mere 5% to more than 80% (regardless of tumor marker risk-level).
The patient was single and had no children, and as such the case has been pursued on behalf of his parents and sister. The defense never made a settlement offer in this case in spite of the compelling facts. The attorneys at R&B are very proud to work with such wonderful people to obtain wrongful death compensation for their tragic loss, and sincerely hope that this result will make it less likely that another patient will be harmed in this manner in the future.