Sacramento Medical Malpractice Case Brought Against Dentist After Cancer Spreads, Part 3 of 4

It is worth noting that situations similar to those described in this medical malpractice case could just as easily occur at any of the healthcare facilities in the area, such as Kaiser Permanente, UC Davis Medical Center, Mercy, Methodist, or Sutter.

(Please also note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury lawsuit and its proceedings.)

Plaintiff returned on February 25, 2009. She was seen by defendant. This day she complained that the left lateral border of the tongue was painful. A white lesion was present that could not be wiped off.

On February 25, defendant referred plaintiff to an oral surgeon for evaluation of the white lesion on the left lateral border of the tongue. The doctor’s referral sheet noted that it had been there for a while and was becoming painful. Defendant understood the lesion had been there for several weeks.

Plaintiff, instead, went to her primary care physician, who referred her to a different oral surgeon. She underwent an incisional biopsy from which the cancer diagnosis was made. She was then referred to an ENT physician, who took a history from plaintiff that the lesion had developed recently. He referred plaintiff to a Head and Neck surgeon at StanFlemming University Medical Center.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.


On April 22, 2009, he performed an excision of the lesion. It was determined to be squamous cell carcinoma, staged at T1 NO MO. No perineural involvement was found.

Plaintiff was seen for follow-up at StanFlemming. She was found to have developed to leukoplakias on her tongue in November 2009, which were followed until they were removed in June 2010 by a different ENT surgeon. She subsequently developed another leukoplakia in 2010, which was removed at the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry.

For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.