Family Wins $8.1M In Lawsuit Over Delayed Lung Cancer Diagnosis

BLUE ISLAND, IL —The family of a Chicago woman who died of lung cancer was awarded $8.1 million by a Cook County jury over claims there was a 13-month delay in diagnosing her illness. Althea Wright died of lung cancer on March 2, 2015. She was 64.

Chicago personal injury attorneys John Perconti, Michael Bonamarte and Daniel Goldfaden brought suit on behalf of Wright's children, Linda and Lonnie, arguing that Wright should have been diagnosed with lung cancer following an X-ray in 2013.

In August 2013, Wright went for X-rays at the now shuttered MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island. The family's attorneys maintain that radiologist Palmer J. Blakley, M.D., reviewed the X-ray which revealed a rounded density in Althea's left lung, but Blakley failed to identify or document the presence of the mass or any abnormality, according to the lawsuit.

Wright's cancer was finally diagnosed by doctors at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in October 2014. By then, the untreated disease had progressed from stage I to stage III. Wright died five months later.

"Ms. Wright's cancer was diagnosable, treatable and curable in August of 2013," Perconti said in a written statement. "Dr. Blakley's failure to take advantage of the opportunity for early detection cost Althea her life and her children their mom."

Blakley passed away last year. The jury is holding the doctor's estate and the professional corporation she worked for, Unimed Ltd., a diagnostic radiology practice, responsible for Wright's death.

"We depend on doctors to take advantage of opportunities to diagnose and treat patients properly and in a timely manner," Bonamarte said. "We trust them to live up to that responsibility and perform their duties of care. When that trust is broken, they must be held accountable."

Wright's family sued under the Illinois Survival Act and the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, alleging that the defendants failed numerous times to appropriately diagnose and care for Wright's lung cancer. As a result, the family's attorneys maintain she experienced pain, suffering, disfigurement and ultimately death, which could have been prevented had her cancer been diagnosed in a timely manner.

MetroSouth Medical Center closed last September after 104 years of serving tens of thousands of residents in the south suburbs and Chicago's Southwest Side neighbors.