CANCER SUIT SETTLED FOR $475,000 REPORTS SAY HIGH DESERT OFFICIALS MISDIAGNOSED.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to a $475,000 settlement for a woman whose lung cancer went undiagnosed at High Desert Hospital in Lancaster.

Shirley Gipson of Lancaster was seen at county-run High Desert four times between May and September 1999. It was only after she was seen at UCLA Medical Center beginning in May 2000 that she was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.

``They failed to adequately test and run a pathology on a lung tumor, and by the time it was ultimately properly diagnosed and treatment started, it reduced her life expectancy considerably,'' said David Margulies, Gipson's attorney.

Gipson currently has a life expectancy of six months, according to a report prepared by an attorney in the County Counsel's Office. The settlement approved Tuesday also provides lifetime acute medical care.

Gipson has a 15-year-old son, Margulies said.

The county Claims Board last month recommended the settlement.

On May 12, 1999, Gipson, then 40, was seen at High Desert for examination of an abnormal mass on a portion of her right lung, which medical personnel suspected was either a malignant tumor or the result of an infection, wrote Principal Deputy County Counsel Gary N. Miller in Claims Board documents.

A biopsy was performed, and the tissue was sent to the pathology department for testing, but the results were inconclusive, Miller wrote.

``Although a biopsy specimen obtained through the use of a bronchoscope is less reliable than specimens obtained from other diagnostic procedures, medical personnel did not consider performing other more definitive diagnostic procedures to assist with their diagnosis,'' Miller wrote.

A significant risk of malignant tumors is that cancer cells can spread, or metastasize.

On June 14, 1999, Gipson was seen in the pulmonary clinic at High Desert. Rather than being scheduled for a more definitive diagnostic procedure, she was scheduled for a second bronchoscopy, which was performed June 17. The specimen from the second bronchoscopy proved to be unsatisfactory for diagnosis.

On July 12, 1999, Gipson was again seen at High Desert. Computer tomography scanning indicated that the abnormal lung mass was enlarging and showing formation of cavities, which is evidence of a possible malignancy, Miller wrote.

However, the CT scan was incorrectly interpreted as showing no evidence of a change in size or structure of the mass.

On Sept. 16, 1999, Gipson was again seen at High Desert, and another CT scan indicated that the abnormal lung mass had enlarged and developed small lobes, evidence of a possible malignancy. However, the CT scan was incorrectly interpreted as showing no evidence of a change in size of the mass. Gipson was discharged with a recommendation to return in six months.

On May 10, 2000, Gipson was seen at UCLA Medical Center, and an X-ray of her chest indicated an abnormal mass on her right lung and a lymph node disorder. The malignancy was later confirmed on June 5, 2000.

``Shirley Gipson has been diagnosed with inoperable metastatic lung cancer attributed to a cancerous tumor in her right lung,'' Miller wrote. ``She currently has a life expectancy of six months.''

If the case went to trial, Miller wrote, the county could have to pay more than $1 million because medical experts would be critical of the failure of medical personnel to order diagnostic procedures that are more definitive, rather than a second bronchoscopy, after receiving inconclusive findings from the pathology report of the biopsy from the first bronchoscopy.

``This failure resulted in a missed opportunity to diagnose and treat the cancer, allowed the cancer to metastasize and become inoperable, and is directly responsible for the results observed here,'' Miller wrote.