Columbia-Presbyterian doctor failed to inform patient of cancer diagnosis: suit

Metro

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E Carl Campanile

A prominent cardiologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York has been sued for failing to tell a patient he had cancer – and it happened. this is pancreatic cancer stage IV, it is shown in the new court records.

Dr. Michael Argenziano, a heart surgeon at the hospital, is accused of negligence by the patient of Jo-hanna Punzone, 79, who said that she could have been spared the terrible fate if she had known about in the growth of back cancer in 2021, according to his statement. judgment.

Instead, “the cancer went undiagnosed and untreated, metastasizing” — and by the time he was diagnosed in September, the “pancreatic cancer had now affected his liver and pelvic bones,” the report said. of the Manhattan Supreme Court.

“Nobody told me I had a cyst. If they did I wouldn’t be in this predicament,” said Punzone, who walks with the aid of a walker and a wheelchair and underwent chemotherapy, he told the Post in a recent interview.

“I will not get to where I am now. I was able to take care of it,” he said.

Argenziano — associate chief of the division of adult cardiac surgery and director of the thoracic surgery residency program at Columbia University Irving Medical Center — ordered a CT scan for Punzone before undergoing surgery to replace his mitral valve in on August 24, 2021, the suit states. .

A CT scan revealed Puzone had a 1-centimeter cyst in the tail of his pancreas — “something unexpected, unusual.” and very important,” according to court documents filed Dec. 6 by Punzone’s attorney Andrew Carboy.

Radiologist Honga Ma – who is also listed as a co-defendant along with Argenziano’s doctor, Elizabeth Wist – recommended follow-up tests of Puzone’s pancreatic cyst, the suit says.

That didn’t happen and Punzone wasn’t told he had breast cancer, according to the lawsuit.

Two years later, Punzone, complaining of hip and bone problems, was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer by his doctors at New Jersey’s Riverview Medical Center.

“There can be no understanding of reading without reading, in the first place. It is clear, and better, no one, apart from the defendant (radiologist) And, even reading the part of the report that describes the pancreatic mass and recommendations for revision ,” the file said.

The court said the small gas could have been stopped or removed at that time in 2021, when it was possible – before the cancer spread to the pancreas, liver and pelvis of Punzone.

“The defendants reduced his chances of obtaining a favorable outcome with respect to his pancreatic cancer, aggravated and/or increased the spread and death of the disease, and prevented him from a greater opportunity to cure it,” Carboy wrote in court documents.

“Due to the defendant’s negligence, at the time the virus was discovered, Ms. Punzone’s cancer was inoperable, because the outbreak was not stopped for many years,” said the filing added that Punzone “is not a candidate for surgery to remove his cancer.”

“I am now in God’s hands,” Punzone told the Post.

The lawsuit is asking for unspecified damages for negligence.

Argenziano, Columbia Medical and Presbyterian Hospital, were also listed as defendants, without immediate comment.

Wist, who no longer works at the hospital, declined to comment. Ma also declined to comment.

Two New York hospitals last year agreed to pay more than $165 million to 147 former patients who accused former doctor Robert Hadden of sexual abuse and misconduct.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian reached a settlement to establish a $71 million monetary award with 79 of Hadden’s former patients.