CANCER PATIENT SUES DOCTOR OVER DIAGNOSIS
60-year-old says JFK doctor failed to tell her of cancerous tumor.
LAKE WORTH — A year ago, Joyce Sirico was working as an auditor and thinking about her looming retirement, which promised carefree days at the beach and plenty of time for travel.
Today, the 60-year-old Lake Worth woman barely has the strength to get out of bed.
Ravaged by cancer, Sirico describes her new reality with a wave of her hand. “I’m dying,” she said matter-of-factly.
But, while she insists she isn’t afraid of the inevitable, she doesn’t plan to go down without a fight.
Before she dies, she plans to face off in court with a doctor at JFK Medical Center who, she claims, failed to tell her about a cancerous tumor in her lung when she went to the Atlantis hospital in June of last year. By the time she was diagnosed in November, the cancer had spread to her bones.
“I feel robbed of not having those six months to maybe extend my life,” Sirico said from a hospital bed that is in the living room of her townhouse because she can no longer climb the stairs.
While her attorney, Nicole Kruegel, this week filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Riddhi Bowry, time and state laws are working against Sirico. Since her husband is dead and she has no children, if she dies before the case goes to trial, the lawsuit will die with her.
In what Kruegel calls the “free kill law,” only victims of medical malpractice, their spouses or any children they have who are under the age of 25 can pursue medical malpractice claims. While personal injury attorneys have railed against the restriction for years, the law has been upheld by the Florida Supreme Court as a legitimate way of reining in medical insurance costs.
Recognizing Sirico’s days are numbered, Kruegel has taken the unusual step of asking Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward Artau to set the case for trial as quickly as possible.
“Any delay in bringing this matter to trial, in consideration of Ms. Sirico’s diminishing health and expected short-life span would be unfairly prejudicial to her and justice,” Kruegel wrote in a motion filed Thursday.
Katherine Hunter, an attorney representing Bowry, said she hadn’t reviewed the lawsuit or motion, so she couldn’t comment on the claims. “We do think Dr. Bowry acted appropriately,” Hunter said. “Dr. Bowry did everything she was supposed to do and acted within the standard of care.”
Kruegel said she expects Hunter will oppose efforts to hasten the trial.
Again, she said, the law isn’t on Sirico’s side. While such requests are specifically allowed for people over the age of 65, it isn’t as clear cut for those who haven’t reached that legally magical age, she said.
“Who expects to die at 6o?” Sirico asked.
Certainly not a remarkably vivacious woman, who still puts on makeup and dresses up when visitors stop by even though it takes her hours and causes excruciating pain.
A year ago, Sirico was dealing with knee pain that she suspected was arthritis. On June 26, 2017 — a year ago Tuesday — she woke up and both arms were numb. “I thought I had a stroke,” she said.
She went to the emergency room at JFK Medical Center, where Dr. Bowry ordered a CT scan. Sirico said the doctor never discussed the results of the scan with her. Instead, Bowry suggested the numbness may have been “anxiety-induced” that could be treated with some overthe-counter pills, Sirico said.
By November, however, the pain in Sirico’s legs worsened. Worried, she returned to JFK’s emergency room and got another CT scan. When she complained about her leg pain, another doctor told her that was the least of her worries.
“I’m more concerned about the mass on your lung,” he told her.
“What mass?” Sirico said. It was the first time she was told that the June scan had found a mass on her lung. By November, it had grown and metastasized. By the end of December, hospice was visiting her townhouse at least once a week.
“I didn’t know I had cancer, so obviously the choices I might have made in June of last year were lost to me,” she said. Choices like chemotherapy or radiation to reduce the size of the tumor were no longer an option.
Since February, Kruegel has tried to persuade JFK and Bowry to settle the case out of court. While she said the hospital agreed to a confidential settlement, Bowry refused, giving her no choice but to file the lawsuit. Hunter said Bowry refused because she did nothing wrong.
State records show JFK paid Sirico $37,500 on June 1 and agreed to “review policies and procedures” to “make similar occurrences less likely.”
While most of Sirico’s medical bills have been covered by Medicaid, because she can’t work, she has been forced to sell jewelry and other personal items to pay her bills, Kruegel said. “Her whole life has been turned upside down,” Kruegel said.
If Sirico survives to take the case to court and she wins, she can use whatever money is awarded to pay her bills, Kruegel said. She can leave money to friends who have taken care of her. She can make a donation to Family Church in West Palm Beach, where she learned not to fear death.
She can also hope she changes a system that, she claims, didn’t do right by her.
“There just needs to be a better way to take care of patients,” Sirico said. “We’re not all numbers. We have lives.”
Even if treatment wasn’t an option in June, receiving the diagnosis then would have given her the gift of time. Until November, she could walk, largely unaided.
“My bucket list,” she said. “I was going to go to the Greek Isles. I would have been well enough to do that.”