Huggins v. Grewal Medical Associates
James Huggins (Huggins), was diagnosed with prostate cancer in May 2001. His doctors thought the cancer had been detected at an early stage and was curable. But surgical removal of his prostate gland in July 2001 revealed that was not the case and that the cancer had spread to the point where his cancer was far more serious than it was first thought to be. Huggins sued, asserting his doctors failure to diagnose his disease during earlier examinations shortened his life span and necessitated more aggressive and expensive therapy than he would otherwise have required. Hugginss wife, plaintiff Lynn Huggins, joined these claims and also asserted a claim for loss of consortium. They filed their complaint on June 1, 2004, more than three years after the initial cancer diagnosis but less than three years after the surgery. While plaintiffs appeal was pending, Huggins died, apparently due to prostate cancer. The appeal is now being pursued solely by his widow, plaintiff Lynn Huggins. (For ease of discussion we sometimes refer to plaintiff and Huggins as plaintiffs.) She asserts that their complaint was timely because the statute did not begin to run until July 2001 when the surgery revealed the incurable nature of the cancer, which incurability could have been prevented by proper diagnosis of the cancer in an examination Huggins underwent in 1999. Court agree and reverse the judgment.
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