Whetstone Perkins & Fulda Achieves Largest Verdict in South Carolina in 2016 for Medical Malpractice Claim

    COLUMBIA, SC, February 22, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Whetstone Perkins & Fulda announced on Friday that South Carolina Lawyers Weekly has recognized the firm in its survey of "South Carolina's Largest Verdicts of 2016." Partner attorneys John Eric Fulda, Cheryl Perkins and Charles Whetstone last year secured a $6.9 million verdict on behalf of a patient who sued her radiologist for his failure to diagnose breast cancer.

An account of the case appears on the Results page of the Whetstone Perkins & Fulda website.

Attorneys at the firm argued that the radiologist misread their client's mammogram, misinterpreting calcifications in her breast as benign. The patient later developed breast cancer which necessitated a double mastectomy, hysterectomy and other surgeries, as well as multiple rounds of chemotherapy and experimental drug treatment.

Ultimately, the delayed diagnosis will lead to death. Three years after being diagnosed, the patient has Stage IV breast cancer that has metastasized to her bones - a terminal prognosis.

"Mammograms are a critical screening tool for women's health, so when a doctor fails to interpret the results of a mammogram correctly, it can be a life-and-death mistake for the patient," Fulda said. "That's what happened in this case, and we are very pleased that the jury understood the gravity of the mistake."

A jury in Charleston County last year awarded $4.8 million in economic damages and $1.4 million in non-economic damages to the plaintiff. The jury also awarded her husband $700,000 for loss of consortium, or damages for the pending loss of his spouse as a result of the negligence of the radiologist.

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly characterized the outcome of the case as "rare," with other media outlets noting that the claim may represent the first medical malpractice verdict in the history of Charleston County. Fulda told The State that "suing a doctor is not an easy and certainly not a popular thing to do, especially in Charleston County."

About Whetstone Perkins & Fulda

Attorneys at Whetstone Perkins & Fulda represent clients in Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Kingstree and throughout South Carolina in a diverse range of cases, from personal injury and class-action lawsuits to business litigation and criminal defense. The firm has achieved millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements on behalf of plaintiffs who suffered injury as a result of medical malpractice, defective drugs, car accidents and more.

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