Family sues radiologist, alleging the doc's 'negligence' contributed to their loved one's untimely death

A patient’s family is suing a radiologist, alleging that his mistake played a role in the untimely death of their loved one. 

The relatives of a 63-year-old woman in the Republic of Cyprus—an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea—say that the doctor’s miss allowed her cancer to spread untreated. She died in September of 2024 from metastatic pancreatic cancer. 

The woman, who had previously been diagnosed with endometrial cancer, underwent an MRI of her abdomen in November of 2021 after her treatment had been initiated. The interpreting radiologist deemed the exam “unremarkable” and did not note any suspicious findings relative to her pancreas, local media outlets report. 

Less than two years later, in July of 2023, the woman again underwent imaging at the same location due to ongoing health issues. Those exams uncovered pancreatic cancer with peritoneal metastasis. Additional imaging in May of 2024 referenced the patient’s 2021 MRI.  

“With progressively reduced dimensions, the known processing in the pancreatic tail is depicted, which in the last examination measured a maximum diameter of approximately 3.7 cm compared to approximately 4.9 cm in the examination on 2/7/2023, also distinguished in the MRI on 18/11/2021,” the May 2024 report stated. 

The family’s legal counsel says the original interpreting radiologist “neglected or failed to locate or record” the abnormalities of her pancreas.

“The initial examination had findings that revealed the deceased had pancreatic cancer, but the alleged negligence of the medical center's doctor and failure of proper diagnosis through imaging examinations led to the patient’s death,” their legal statement reads. 

The patient’s family says the radiologist’s failure to notate the abnormality prevented her from receiving the appropriate treatment, which inevitably contributed to her death.